Respite carer jobs: short placements and cover work

The NHS page on carer breaks and respite care lists the forms a break can take, including day centres, short stays in care homes, sitting services and help at home from a paid carer. The last of those is the work this page is about. The person you look after stays in their own home, with their own bed and their own routine, and you step into the place of the husband, wife, son or daughter who normally keeps that routine going. If you are new to the wider field, carer resources has the guides on pay, tax, checks and the day-to-day skills.

That makes respite work different from an ongoing booking in a few ways, and it helps to see them side by side before you take the first one.

Some respite work comes from a family carer who needs time for their own health, such as an operation or a hospital stay. Some is planned well ahead around a holiday or a family wedding, and some is a regular afternoon or night every week or fortnight so that the family carer can keep going. Families reading our respite care pages are told they choose the carer, can talk to them before they book, and can arrange a short visit first so the face is familiar on the first day.

The commission tiers are the ones on every booking. A visit of less than six hours carries 20%, a single visit of six hours or more carries 15%, and live-in care carries 12.5%, charged per 24-hour day. That is why a full day of respite, booked as one visit, leaves more of each pound with you than the same hours split into short calls. What carers earn on PrimeCarers sets the commission out in full, including how VAT comes out of our share rather than yours.

On our family pages, respite at home is described as costing the same as ongoing care, with no premium for a one-off. A family booking a fortnight of live-in cover is told the weekly rate is the same as for an ongoing placement. Your rate is still yours to set, and how much to charge as a self-employed carer goes through how to pitch it. The carer terms say your rate should not change part way through a contract, and a change agreed with the client ends that contract and starts a new one, so settle it before the dates are booked.

Short work has costs that ongoing work spreads out. You may travel further for a single afternoon than you would for a regular client, and the contract says travel is only charged if you and the client agree it in advance and in writing. Travel time and mileage for carers covers how to agree it. Gaps between short bookings are unpaid, as they are in all self-employed work, which is part of why some carers build respite around a few regular clients rather than relying on it alone.

These terms come from the client and carer contract, which says communication under it is in writing, by email, WhatsApp or the messaging on the PrimeCarers platform. On a respite booking that means putting the dates, the times, the rate and anything agreed about travel into one message before the start, and keeping the reply. PrimeCarers does not set the commercial terms between you and the client or decide a disagreement about them. When a client cancels or goes into hospital works through the cancellation clause case by case.

If you take holiday cover over Christmas, check the dates first. Gov.uk lists Christmas Day 2026 on a Friday and the Boxing Day substitute bank holiday on Monday 28 December, and in 2027 both Christmas bank holidays fall on substitute weekdays (gov.uk bank holidays). The contract does not say which day carries the uplift when a holiday falls at a weekend, so bank holiday and Christmas pay for carers suggests agreeing it in writing when you agree the dates.

1. 1

   Set your typical week

   When you register

   Tap the mornings, afternoons, evenings and nights you can usually work. Mornings run from 7am to 12pm, afternoons to 5pm and evenings to 10pm. A free afternoon that you mark is an afternoon a family can ask you about.
2. 2

   Choose the kinds of care you take

   When you register

   Pick hourly visits, overnights, live-in, or all three. Leaving out nights or live-in means you will not hear about the weekend and fortnight bookings that need them.
3. 3

   Pick your live-in blocks

   If you do live-in

   The live-in options are two weeks on and one off, four weeks on and two off, or flexible. If you want one or two weeks of cover between other commitments, the flexible or ongoing option leaves room for it.
4. 4

   Confirm it when you are asked

   About every four weeks

   The app asks whether your availability is still right. If your diary has filled up or freed up, change it there and then.
5. 5

   Take a break rather than going quiet

   When you are away

   Choosing to take a break hides you from new clients until the date you pick, so families planning their own break are not left waiting on a reply.

Respite bookings depend on dates, and a family planning a week away needs to know quickly whether you are free. Families are told on our respite pages that a fortnight's notice gives them the widest choice, and that some families are talking to a carer the same day. Replying promptly, even to say no, keeps you in good standing. The carer terms allow a profile to be ended where jobs are frequently turned down, and ask you to tell us when your circumstances change, which is one more reason to keep the pattern honest. Writing a carer profile that families choose has more on the availability section.

If you can only work part of the year, or around another job, respite work can fit well because each booking has an end date. Part-time care work covers building a pattern around other commitments.

If something goes wrong while the family carer is away, ring 999 for an emergency and NHS 111 for urgent medical advice, then tell the family. If you fall ill and cannot finish the booking, tell the client straight away. You can send a substitute you trust, and families are told they can call PrimeCarers for help looking for alternative cover, although a replacement cannot be guaranteed. Lone working and personal safety covers keeping yourself safe in a house you do not know.

Live-in cover asks more of you than visits. You will be sleeping in the home and working most of the day, so agree your breaks, your free time and where you sleep before you arrive. What to agree before a live-in placement has a checklist for the first conversation, and live-in carer hours, breaks and time off covers how to agree working hours and rest on a placement.

When you are ready to look, the open jobs page shows work families have posted now, carer jobs by town lists the local jobs pages, and live-in carer jobs and part-time carer jobs cover the two kinds of work respite tends to draw on.

Before a family sees your profile, PrimeCarers checks your ID and your right to work, checks that you hold an enhanced DBS certificate (or a PVG in Scotland, or Access NI in Northern Ireland) issued within the last two years, and interviews you online. We do not check qualifications, training or references. References you have collected and reviews from PrimeCarers bookings appear on your profile unverified, so tell families about your skills and training yourself, on your profile and when they ask. Separately from those checks, visits booked and accepted through PrimeCarers are covered by insurance arranged through a specialist carer insurer, within the terms of the policy. If you have not registered yet, you can register as a carer on PrimeCarers and set your rate and availability, or read how to become a carer first.

Respite work is self-employed work like the rest. Gov.uk says you must register for Self Assessment as a sole trader if you earn more than £1,000 from it in a tax year, and you can register earlier if you choose, and tax and money as a self-employed carer goes through the deadlines.