The short answer
- The visit is for companyConversation, outings, a meal cooked and eaten together, shopping and errands, and light housework in the rooms the person uses.
- It stops at personal carePhysical help with eating, washing, dressing or the toilet is personal care in law. Medicines beyond a reminder, and anything you are not competent to do, are outside companionship unless you agree them and are trained.
- Companion carers advertise £15 to £20 an hourThat is with our fee included. At the typical £18 an hour, £14.40 reaches you after our 20% commission on hourly visits.
- The checks are the same whatever the workIdentity, right to work, an enhanced DBS check from the last 18 months and a recorded video interview, whether you offer companionship, personal care or both.
Rates are what carers on PrimeCarers advertise, with our fee included, checked September 2026. The definition of personal care is from legislation.gov.uk and CQC's scope guidance, checked 22 September 2026. Written for England.
What the work involves
A companionship visit is time spent with somebody, with jobs done alongside
Companionship suits a carer who is good with people and would rather not do intimate care. The client is usually an older person who manages their own washing and dressing but is on their own for much of the week, has stopped going out, or has a family who worry about them.
Company
Outings
Meals
Shopping and errands
Light housekeeping
Families are told that a two-hour afternoon is the usual companionship booking, and visits often fall on the same days each week. The work is steady rather than physically heavy, but it asks a lot of your patience and attention. Some clients are lonely and talk freely; others did not want help arranged for them and take several visits to warm up. You are also often the person who notices first that something has changed, such as food going uneaten, a fall they have not mentioned, or confusion that was not there last month.
It helps to know what families have been told to expect. What a companion visit looks like is what families are told about the shape of a visit, and companionship with light housekeeping is what they are told about housework. The rest of the carer guides are on carer resources.
Where it stops
Companionship stops where personal care begins
The law draws the line for you. Personal care is defined in the regulations the Care Quality Commission works under, and it covers physical help with eating or drinking, toileting, washing or bathing, dressing, oral care, and the care of skin, hair and nails. It also covers prompting and supervising any of those for somebody who cannot decide to do them without that help.
Where a companionship visit stops
Companionship
What the visit is for
- Conversation, a drink together, cards, a paper or a programme you both follow
- Walks, outings, and going with them to an appointment or a club
- Cooking a meal and sitting down to eat it with them
- Shopping and errands, with a receipt for anything bought with their money
- Light housekeeping in the rooms they use: washing up, a load of washing, the bed changed
- A reminder that it is time for their tablets or an appointment
Only if agreed and you are competent
Written into the booking first
- Driving them in your own car, with business use on your car insurance
- Handling their cash or card for more than a single shop
- Any help with medicines beyond a reminder, and only once you are trained
- Anything you have not done before and do not feel able to do safely
Personal care
Not companionship, as the law defines it
- Physical help with eating or drinking
- Toileting, including continence care
- Washing or bathing
- Dressing
- Oral care, and the care of skin, hair and nails
- Prompting and supervising any of these for somebody who cannot decide to do them alone
The middle column is where most misunderstandings start. Cooking a meal and eating it together is companionship; cutting up food and helping somebody get it to their mouth is personal care. Saying "it is time for your tablets" is a reminder; taking tablets out of a box and handing them over, applying a cream, or keeping a medicines record is more than that, and it needs training before you do it. Driving a client in your own car needs business use on your car insurance, and handling their money needs a written record every time.
The CQC's scope guidance says a provider does not need to register if it only provides social support, such as help with shopping, and none of the tasks in the definition of personal care (CQC, personal care). Whether a self-employed carer needs to register at all is a separate question, and self-employed carers and the CQC is what families are told about it.
Why the line matters
Why the line matters for your insurance, your contract and the family
Companionship bookings drift. A client has a bad week and asks for help getting into the bath, or a daughter asks whether you could sort out her father's tablets as you are there anyway. Saying yes without thinking can leave you doing work you have not agreed, are not covered for, or are not trained to do.
Settle before the first visit
- Write the tasks into the booking, so you and the client can both see what the visits are for
- Tell your insurer what you do, and read what your policy says about personal care and medicines
- Agree any driving, mileage or spending of their money in advance and in writing
- Say plainly if you do not do personal care, so the family can arrange it elsewhere
Avoid on the day
- Taking on washing, dressing or toileting because nobody else is there that day
- Handing out medicines you have not been trained to handle
- Letting new tasks creep in without the booking being changed
- Saying nothing when you think the client now needs more care than you offer
Your contract. The contract between you and each client says you provide the services agreed between you, with any changes confirmed in writing. It also says you do not take on work you feel unqualified to do, and that you tell the client so other arrangements can be made. The client, for their part, agrees not to pressure you into work you cannot do safely. Declining personal care is within your rights, and saying so early is kinder than saying so in a crisis.
Your insurance. A public liability policy is written around the work you told the insurer you do. Specialist carer policies commonly cover a task only if you were trained for it, and medicines are the usual example. Do I need insurance as a self-employed carer? sets out what policies expect of you, and your contract with a client asks you to hold public liability cover if they ask to see it.
The family's expectations. A family booking companionship has usually been told it is company and outings, not personal care. If their relative now needs help washing or dressing, they need to know, because it may change who is right for the work. Tell them what you have noticed, and if you are worried about the person's safety, say so to the family or to the council's adult social care team. Training for private carers covers what to learn if you decide to take on personal care later.
What it pays
What companion carers on PrimeCarers advertise, and what reaches you
You set your own rate. Carers on PrimeCarers advertise companionship a little below personal care, at £15 to £20 an hour against £18 to £25 for hourly visits generally, with our fee included in both. Our commission comes out of that rate; it is not added to the family's bill.
Companionship rates carers on PrimeCarers advertise, and what reaches the carer
| The family pays, an hour | Reaches you, an hour | |
|---|---|---|
| Lower end | £15 | £12 |
| Typical | £18 | £14.40 |
| Upper end | £20 | £16 |
Lower end
- The family pays, an hour
- £15
- Reaches you, an hour
- £12
Typical
- The family pays, an hour
- £18
- Reaches you, an hour
- £14.40
Upper end
- The family pays, an hour
- £20
- Reaches you, an hour
- £16
Hourly visits of less than six hours, after our 20% commission. The VAT on our commission is paid out of it, not added to the family's bill or taken from your share. Rates with our fee included, checked September 2026.
A visit of six hours or more, such as a full day out, is charged at our 15% rate instead. Six hours at £18 is £108 to the family, and £91.80 of it reaches you. Bank holidays are charged at one and a half times your normal rate and Christmas Day at twice, under the contract. Nothing is deducted for tax, so set some aside from every payment; how to pay tax as a self-employed carer goes through it.
Outings bring travel into the work. Mileage and travel time are chargeable only if you agree them with the client in advance, in writing, with the rate and the circumstances; 55p a mile is the usual figure on PrimeCarers. For your own tax, gov.uk's simplified expenses page gives a flat rate of 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in a car in 2026/27, and 25p after that (checked 22 September 2026). Travel time and mileage for carers covers both. Out-of-pocket spending, such as a café bill or a bus fare, is reimbursed only if agreed in advance and backed by receipts, and handling money for clients explains how to keep that record.
If a client cancels a visit, the contract makes it payable in full, except for unplanned hospitalisation, illness, or another reason you both agree, and you can waive part or all of it. Either of you can end an hourly arrangement with 48 hours' notice. How much to charge as a self-employed carer helps you pick a rate, and what carers earn on PrimeCarers sets out our commission in full.
The checks
The checks are the same, whatever work you offer
A family letting a companion into their relative's home is trusting you with somebody who may be lonely, forgetful or easily persuaded. So PrimeCarers asks the same of a companion carer as of anybody else before a profile appears to families.
- 1
Identity
A Yoti digital checkYour identity is confirmed online through Yoti. - 2
Right to work
Before your profile goes liveConfirmation that you are allowed to work in the UK. - 3
An enhanced DBS check
From the last 18 monthsThe enhanced level, issued within the last 18 months and renewed every 18 months, rather than repeated for each client. - 4
A recorded video interview
14 questions, about 45 minutesTaken online in one sitting, with no pausing and one retake of each answer. It looks at whether you are caring; it is not a clinical or technical test.
References, qualifications and training are not part of our checks. Your qualifications and training go on your profile in your own words, and past employers or families you invite can leave references there, for families to look at and ask you about. Enhanced DBS and the Update Service explains how the certificate and the subscription work together.
If companionship is the work you want, you can register as a carer on PrimeCarers, set a companionship rate and describe the visits you offer, or first see the carer jobs open near you. Families search and choose, so registering does not bring bookings on its own.
Questions
Questions carers ask about companionship work
The CQC's scope guidance says a provider does not need to register if it only provides social support, such as help with shopping, and none of the tasks in the definition of personal care. Registration questions for individual carers depend on how you work, and CQC's own guidance is the place to check your case.
A reminder is part of ordinary companionship. Handing out tablets, applying creams or keeping a medicines record goes beyond that, needs training, and should be agreed in the booking first. Check what your insurance says before you do it.
That is personal care, not companionship. You can decline, and the contract asks you to tell the client when a task is beyond what you are qualified to do so other arrangements can be made. If you are willing and trained, agree it with the client and change the booking first.
On PrimeCarers, yes. Every carer has an enhanced DBS check (or PVG in Scotland, Access NI in Northern Ireland) issued within the last 18 months, together with an identity check, a right to work check and a recorded video interview, whatever work they offer.
You set your own rate, and you can set one for companionship. Carers on PrimeCarers advertise companionship at £15 to £20 an hour and hourly visits generally at £18 to £25, with our fee included. At £18 an hour, £14.40 reaches you.