The short answer
- Search more than one channel at onceRegistering with a platform does not rule out a care-specific job board, your own network or a local advert, and using several together is usually faster than waiting on one.
- Get the basics done before you applyMoving and handling, first aid, safeguarding, medication and infection control training all make a profile stand out, even though none of it is a legal requirement.
- Pay depends on the route and the work, not just where you lookOn PrimeCarers, live-in placements typically run from £1,050 to £1,750 a week depending on the care involved, with our fee already included.
- Have your documents ready before the first replyA family or agency expects to see proof of who you are and that your checks are current before they book you in, not a promise to send it later.
Live-in rates are what carers on PrimeCarers advertise, checked 6 September 2026, with our fee already included.
Before you start
Decide which kind of live-in work you are looking for first
Every live-in carer finds work through one of three basic arrangements. Which one you are aiming for changes where you should be looking, so it is worth settling before you start.
An introductory platform
An employed care agency
Finding a family yourself
None of these rules out the others, and most carers try more than one before their first placement is confirmed. Where to find a live-in care job in 2026 sets the three routes out in full, including what each one checks and how notice works, if you want to weigh them against each other before reading on. The rest of this page assumes you have a route in mind already, or want the practical part: getting qualified, understanding pay, and where carers look for work.
Getting qualified
The training worth having before you start applying
None of the training below is a legal requirement for a self-employed carer working for one family at a time, but a family comparing two similar profiles reads it as a sign you have covered the basics properly.
Training worth having on your profile
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Core training
Condition-specific training, if you want to take it on
Carer training for private carers covers the Care Certificate and the Level 2 and 3 Diploma in Care in full, including where to study for free and how to tell a legitimate course from a waste of money. For the condition-specific list, dementia care and helping to manage MS each cover one condition in more depth, and Parkinson's, stroke recovery and diabetes have their own guides in carer resources. Keep your enhanced DBS current on the Update Service once you have it, since a certificate that has lapsed is no use to a family checking it; enhanced DBS and the Update Service covers how.
Understanding pay
What decides the rate you are offered
Live-in pay is not one fixed figure. A handful of things change what a family or agency offers, mostly about the work itself rather than luck.
Experience
Training and qualifications
Complexity of care needed
Where you live
How you found the work
On PrimeCarers, live-in placements typically run from £1,050 a week for companionship and light help to £1,750 or more for complex or specialist care, or around £1,350 for caring for a couple, with our fee already included in the figure you set. A traditional live-in agency typically charges a family upwards of £1,400 a week for a comparable placement, then pays its own carer a wage out of that figure rather than passing the whole amount on. How much can carers earn on PrimeCarers? has the full breakdown by type of care, and how much is a live-in carer paid? sets out the range by level of need from the family's side.
Where to look
The places carers find live-in work
Most carers use more than one of these at once rather than waiting on a single application to come good.
- 1
Register a profile on an introductory platform
Most supportedFree, about 30 minutes to set up
A platform such as PrimeCarers is where families search for a carer, rather than you approaching them one at a time. Your profile carries your rate, your experience and your availability, and the checks are arranged as part of registering.
- 2
List yourself on job boards built for care and support work
Care-specificFree to browse, listing fees vary
Sites built specifically for care and personal assistance list live-in vacancies and carer profiles alongside residential and domiciliary roles, so the families or agencies browsing are already looking for exactly this kind of work.
- 3
Search general job boards for live-in and companionship roles
GeneralFree
Live-in and companionship vacancies turn up on the large general job boards alongside every other kind of work, so a saved search with the right keywords is worth setting up rather than browsing from scratch each time.
- 4
Use social media and your own network
Word of mouthFree, ongoing
A profile on a professional network, and membership of a group for carers, puts your experience in front of people who already work in the sector. Referrals from a past client or another carer are often the easiest work to win, because the trust is already there.
- 5
Advertise locally and speak to organisations that already meet older people
Most independentLow cost
A card in a community centre, a library or a supermarket noticeboard, or an advert in a local paper, reaches people who are not searching online at all. Senior centres, hospices and rehabilitation units meet families who need a live-in carer regularly, and are often glad to pass on a contact.
For the care-specific job boards, Care.com and homecare.co.uk both carry live-in vacancies and carer profiles alongside domiciliary and residential roles, and PA Pool matches personal assistants and carers directly with disabled or older people who are employing somebody themselves. On the general boards, Indeed lists live-in and companionship roles alongside every other kind of job, so a saved search for the right keywords is worth setting up.
Before you apply
What to have ready before you message a family or apply to a job board
Whichever channel brings you a reply, a family or agency expects to see the same handful of things, and it is worth having them ready rather than promising to send them on later.
Before you send your first message
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Documents
On your profile or CV
Self-employed carer documents lists what to have ready in more detail, and do I need insurance to be a self-employed carer? covers cover while you are working, which sits separately from the checks above. As a self-employed live-in carer you are also responsible for your own tax; handling tax and money responsibilities as a self-employed private carer and how to pay tax as a self-employed carer cover registering with HMRC and what to set aside.
How to start
From this page to your first live-in placement
Four steps, and the first two do not cost anything beyond your time.
- 1
Sort your DBS route
This weekRegister with a platform, an agency or an umbrella body to start the enhanced DBS check that live-in work calls for, since you cannot apply for one directly yourself. - 2
Write your profile or CV
FreeYour experience, availability and the kind of live-in care you are prepared to take on, written out plainly, are what a family or agency reads before they get in touch. - 3
Register or apply everywhere relevant at once
TodayA profile on an introductory platform, a listing on a care-specific job board, and a note in your own network all cost nothing to set up, and nothing stops you doing all three. - 4
Agree the rate, days off and notice in writing
Before you travelSettle this before you pack, whichever channel brought you the placement. What to have ready above covers the rest.
Questions
Questions carers ask about finding live-in work
Registering with an introductory platform is usually the fastest way to start, since families search for you rather than you applying one at a time, and the checks are arranged as part of registering. Most carers also list themselves on a care-specific job board and let their own network know at the same time, rather than waiting on one channel alone.
No, there is no legal qualification requirement for a self-employed carer working for one family at a time. Moving and handling, first aid, safeguarding, medication administration and infection control all make a profile stronger, and the Care Certificate is a free place to start. Carer training for private carers covers what is worth doing and where to study.
On PrimeCarers, live-in placements typically run from £1,050 a week for companionship and light help to £1,750 or more for complex or specialist care, with our fee already included. An employed agency sets a wage instead, usually lower than what it charges the family for the same placement. How much can carers earn on PrimeCarers? has the full breakdown.
Yes, if you are self-employed. Registering with a platform does not stop you listing yourself on a job board, using social media or asking around your own network at the same time. An employment contract with an agency is the exception, since it may ask you not to take live-in work elsewhere while you are employed by them.
It can be, provided you treat the vetting as seriously as a platform would. Arrange your own enhanced DBS route through a registered umbrella body, ask for the same identity checks a family would expect of you, and write the rate, days off and notice down before you travel to the placement.
Proof of identity, your enhanced DBS certificate or proof it is current on the Update Service, and references from any previous care work, paid or unpaid. Self-employed carer documents lists everything worth having ready.
Yes. You are self-employed from your first paid live-in placement, so registering with HMRC, keeping records and paying your own Income Tax and National Insurance are yours to sort. How to pay tax as a self-employed carer walks through registering and filing.