The short answer
- You do not need your own contractEvery placement booked through PrimeCarers uses the same contract between you and the client. It covers your rate, notice, cancellations, expenses, travel, breaks, substitutes and leaving the home.
- The household side is yours to agreeYour room, wifi, food, days off, visitors, pets, keys, driving and who you call are not in the contract. Settle them with the family before you arrive.
- Food is something to agree with the familyFamilies are told the household provides a live-in carer's food. How it is bought, and from what budget, is for you and the family to settle.
- Write it in a message you both keepThe contract treats email, WhatsApp and the PrimeCarers messages as writing. One message that you both reply to is enough.
Contract terms checked against the client and carer contract for visits from 8 December 2025 and the carer terms of service, 22 September 2026.
Settled and not settled
What the contract already settles, and what is left for you to agree
Two sets of rules apply to a live-in placement you take through PrimeCarers. The contract between you and the client covers the working terms, and it is the same for every placement. Everything to do with living in the home sits outside it, and that part is for you and the family to agree between you.
Already in the contract
The same for every live-in placement booked through PrimeCarers, from the contract and the carer terms.
- Your weekly rate, fixed for the bookingThe rate in the offer the client accepts. Our 12.5% live-in commission comes out of it. A new rate means a new contract.
- Bank holidays and Christmas DayOne and a half times your normal rate on a bank holiday, and twice your normal rate on Christmas Day.
- Notice on both sides48 hours until you have worked 168 hours with the client, then 7 days.
- Care the client cancelsPayable in full, except for unplanned hospitalisation, illness or another reason you both agree. You can waive part or all of it.
- Out-of-pocket expensesPaid back only if the client agreed them in advance, and only with receipts.
- TravelNot chargeable unless it is agreed in advance and in writing, with the rate and when it applies.
- Your breaksYou manage your own rest. On live-in care rest is expected, and when it happens is agreed with the client.
- Sending a substituteYou may send a suitable carer in your place, subject to reasonable objections. You arrange and pay them.
- ConfidentialityWhat you learn about the client and their affairs stays private, under the contract and UK GDPR.
- Known risks and a safe place to workThe client tells you about known risks and keeps you updated. You can stop work if you believe it is unsafe.
- Leaving the home if askedFor safety, serious misconduct or a breakdown in trust. You leave within a practicable time and are still owed for work done.
- Payment through PrimeCarersAll work for this client, and anyone they refer, is booked and paid through the platform.
Agree it in writing
Not in the contract. Settle each one with the family before you arrive.
The home
- Your roomA private bedroom with a door that closes, and who else goes in.
- WifiThe password, and whether you can use it for calls home in your own time.
- Your foodWhether it goes on the household shop or has its own budget, and who buys it.
Your time
- When your daily rest fallsAnd who is with the client while you take it.
- Days off and coverHow long the placement runs, when you are off, and who covers you.
Getting about
- Getting to and from the placementWhether any travel is paid, how much and for which journeys.
- DrivingWhether you will drive the client, in whose car, and whose insurance covers it.
The household
- The care and the houseworkWhat the care involves, and which household jobs are part of it.
- House rules and smokingQuiet hours, heating, and whether smoking or vaping is allowed anywhere.
- VisitorsWho visits the client, and whether anyone may visit you.
- PetsWhat pets live there, what their care involves, and any allergy of yours.
- KeysWhich keys you hold, whether there is a key safe, and handing them back.
People to call
- The family point of contactOne named person you message about the day, and a second when they are away.
- Emergency contactsThe GP, the pharmacy, family numbers, and who to ring first.
If things change
- A hospital stayWhether you stay in the home or go home, and what is paid meanwhile.
- A sudden endWhere you go if you have to leave at short notice.
The left-hand list is the client and carer contract, which every client agrees to when they book. It is between you and the client, not between you and PrimeCarers. PrimeCarers is an introductory and payment service. It does not employ you or supervise the care, and it is not a party to the contract. You set your weekly rate, and our 12.5% live-in commission comes out of it rather than being added to the family's bill. On a £1,120 week, which is typical of what carers on PrimeCarers advertise with our fee included, £980 reaches you. Live-in carer pay, from your side works through the rest of the numbers, and carer resources has the other guides for self-employed carers.
If you have searched for a live-in carer contract template, you do not need one for work booked through PrimeCarers, and writing your own terms on top of the standard ones can cause confusion over which set applies. The documents you need as a self-employed carer explains what the contract covers and which other paperwork is yours to keep. The contract also asks you to hold public liability insurance if the client asks to see it, which do I need insurance? explains. The carer terms of service let you agree additional terms with a client on top of the contract, and that is what the right-hand list is: the household arrangements the contract does not mention.
Two clauses matter more on a live-in placement than on hourly work. Notice is 48 hours until you have worked 168 hours with the client, then 7 days, for either side. And because you are staying in the home for the work, the client can ask you to leave if they end the arrangement over safety, serious misconduct or a breakdown in trust. You go within a practicable time, allowing for transport and your own safety, and you are still owed for the work done.
Room, wifi and food
Your room, the wifi and your food
None of these three is in the contract, and each is easier to raise on the phone before you arrive than on your first evening in the house.
The home: what families read, and what you settle with them
| What families are told on our pages | What to agree before you arrive | |
|---|---|---|
| Your room | A private bedroom with a door that closes. Not a shared room, and not a sofa bed made up each night. | That the room is yours for the placement, where your things go, whether you have a bathroom to yourself, and that nobody uses the room as storage while you are there. |
| Rent and bills | A live-in carer pays no rent and has no tenancy. The room comes with the care arrangement. | Nothing is owed for the room. If heating or hot water will be an issue, for example in a cold house, raise it now. |
| Wifi | Not needed for the caring itself, but most families add the carer to the household wifi. | The password, whether you can use it for video calls home in your own time, and whether the signal reaches your room. |
| Your food | The household provides a live-in carer's food. It is not taken out of what the carer charges. | Whether your food goes on the weekly shop or has its own budget, who does the shopping, and any diet or allergy of yours. |
Your room
- What families are told on our pages
- A private bedroom with a door that closes. Not a shared room, and not a sofa bed made up each night.
- What to agree before you arrive
- That the room is yours for the placement, where your things go, whether you have a bathroom to yourself, and that nobody uses the room as storage while you are there.
Rent and bills
- What families are told on our pages
- A live-in carer pays no rent and has no tenancy. The room comes with the care arrangement.
- What to agree before you arrive
- Nothing is owed for the room. If heating or hot water will be an issue, for example in a cold house, raise it now.
Wifi
- What families are told on our pages
- Not needed for the caring itself, but most families add the carer to the household wifi.
- What to agree before you arrive
- The password, whether you can use it for video calls home in your own time, and whether the signal reaches your room.
Your food
- What families are told on our pages
- The household provides a live-in carer's food. It is not taken out of what the carer charges.
- What to agree before you arrive
- Whether your food goes on the weekly shop or has its own budget, who does the shopping, and any diet or allergy of yours.
What families are told comes from the family guides on primecarers.co.uk. PrimeCarers does not set these arrangements; they are between you and the family.
Families reading about live-in care on this site are told what to expect, so none of these requests should surprise them. Where live-in carers sleep is what families are told about your room, and whether live-in carers buy their own food is what they are told about meals. Reading both before the call means you and the family start from the same place.
Food, and why there is no set figureSection titled Food%2C%20and%20why%20there%20is%20no%20set%20figure
There is no published rule on how much a family spends on a live-in carer's food, and no standard allowance. What families are told is that the household provides it. Some families add your food to the weekly shop; others set a separate budget that you spend and keep receipts for. Either works if it is agreed. If you will also be shopping for the client with their money, keep that separate from anything spent on you, and record it the same way each time. Handling money for clients as a private carer sets out how to keep that record.
The room, and what it means that you are not a tenantSection titled The%20room%2C%20and%20what%20it%20means%20that%20you%20are%20not%20a%20tenant
What families are told about rent explains why you pay none and have no tenancy. The room comes with the placement and ends with it, so know where you would go if a placement ended at short notice.
Days off and cover
Your daily rest, your days off, and who covers you
The contract leaves your breaks to you. On live-in care it says rest is expected and that when it happens is agreed with the client, and that if rest is hard to fit in, the two of you discuss changing the schedule. What it does not say is when your rest falls, how long the placement runs before you have time off, or who is with the client while you are away.
- 1
Agree the shape of the placement
Before you arriveHow many weeks the placement runs, the day you arrive and the day you leave, and whether another carer takes over when you go. A clear end date makes the notice rules easier to apply. - 2
Agree when your daily rest falls
First conversationThe time of day, and who is with the client while you take it. If nobody is, say whether the client can be safely left, and for how long. - 3
Agree who covers your days off
Before you arriveA family member, a second carer, or a substitute you arrange yourself. Under the contract a substitute is yours to arrange and pay, and the client can make a reasonable objection. - 4
Give notice of planned leave
Two weeks aheadThe carer terms ask you to tell the client at least two weeks before a planned holiday, and to try to arrange cover with carers on PrimeCarers. Cover is booked through the platform like any other booking.
Live-in carer hours, breaks and time off covers hours, breaks and nights in detail, including what to do when rest is not happening. Each of these is harder to raise once the family has come to depend on you being there all day.
Bank holidays fall inside many placements. The contract sets them at one and a half times your normal rate, and Christmas Day at twice your normal rate. Check with the family which dates fall inside your placement, so that the uplift is expected on both sides.
Travel and the car
Getting to the placement, and driving the client
Travel is where a placement far from home can cost you money you did not expect. The contract is clear that travel is not chargeable unless it is agreed in advance, in writing, with the rate and the circumstances set out. Driving the client is a separate question, and the answer depends on insurance rather than on the contract.
Travel and driving on a live-in placement
| Where it stands | What to agree | |
|---|---|---|
| Getting to and from the placement | Not paid unless agreed in advance and in writing, with the rate and when it applies. | A flat amount for the journey, or mileage, and whether it applies once or at every changeover. |
| Driving the client in their car | You must be insured to drive it. The client's ordinary policy does not cover you automatically. | That the family adds you to their policy for this use, and shows you the confirmation before the first trip. |
| Driving the client in your own car | Your own policy needs to cover business use. Mileage is chargeable only if agreed in writing. | Whether mileage is paid, and at what rate. 55p a mile is the usual figure on PrimeCarers where it is agreed. |
| No driving licence | No licence is needed for live-in work unless the placement involves driving. | Say so before you accept, and ask how the client gets to appointments and the shops. |
Getting to and from the placement
- Where it stands
- Not paid unless agreed in advance and in writing, with the rate and when it applies.
- What to agree
- A flat amount for the journey, or mileage, and whether it applies once or at every changeover.
Driving the client in their car
- Where it stands
- You must be insured to drive it. The client's ordinary policy does not cover you automatically.
- What to agree
- That the family adds you to their policy for this use, and shows you the confirmation before the first trip.
Driving the client in your own car
- Where it stands
- Your own policy needs to cover business use. Mileage is chargeable only if agreed in writing.
- What to agree
- Whether mileage is paid, and at what rate. 55p a mile is the usual figure on PrimeCarers where it is agreed.
No driving licence
- Where it stands
- No licence is needed for live-in work unless the placement involves driving.
- What to agree
- Say so before you accept, and ask how the client gets to appointments and the shops.
Travel terms from the client and carer contract. Motor insurance is a legal requirement for driving on UK roads (gov.uk).
A car on the road must have at least third party insurance, as gov.uk explains, and driving somebody to appointments as part of your work is a use the insurer needs to know about, whoever owns the car. What families are told about carers driving asks them to check your licence and to sort the insurance out before the first trip. You can make that easier by creating a licence check code on gov.uk, which lets the family see what you can drive and any penalty points. The code lasts 21 days.
Travel to a placement is also something families read about: what families are told about travel pay tells them it sits outside your weekly rate unless you both agree otherwise, and suggests a flat amount or mileage agreed in writing. For your own tax, if you use simplified expenses for a car, gov.uk's flat rate for the 2026 to 2027 tax year is 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p after that (it was 45p before 6 April 2026; checked 22 September 2026). Travel time and mileage for carers covers which journeys count.
The household
House rules, visitors, pets, keys and who you call
You are living in somebody else's home, often alongside other members of their family. Most of what goes wrong in a live-in placement is not about the care. It is about the household, and most of it can be settled in one conversation before you arrive.
The care, and the housework that goes with it
House rules and smoking
Visitors, the client's and yours
Pets
Keys and the key safe
The family contact and emergency numbers
The contract asks the client to tell you, before you start and as things change, about known risks: mobility and handling needs, cognitive impairment, behaviour that may be challenging, safeguarding concerns, infections and hazards in the home. Use the call before the placement to ask about each of these. It also says you provide any equipment you need to do the work, so ask what is already in the house, such as a hoist or a raised toilet seat, and what you are expected to bring.
Where several relatives live in the house or visit often, agree who speaks for the family. The contract asks you to make reasonable efforts to work with anyone the client has chosen to speak for them, and one named contact stops you being caught between two relatives who want different things. What families are told about sharing a house with a live-in carer recommends exactly this. If somebody holds a lasting power of attorney for the client, ask who it is and which type it is, because a health and welfare attorney can make some care decisions when the client cannot.
Before you accept, it is reasonable to ask for a short video call from the house so you can see the room, and to ask what a normal day and a bad day look like for the client. Agree too what you may share with the family about the client, and how. Nothing about the client goes online: their details are confidential under the contract.
Writing it down
How to put it in writing, and what to do if it changes
The contract says that any communication under it is given in writing, by email, WhatsApp or the messaging on PrimeCarers. It also says the details stored on the platform, including agreed variations, form part of the agreement. So a written message is enough, provided you both have it and it says clearly what was agreed.
- 1
Send one message that lists what you agreed
Before you arriveGo through the right-hand list above, write down what was agreed under each heading, and ask the client or the family contact to reply confirming it. Keep that message. - 2
Put any travel or expenses terms in the same message
In advanceTravel is chargeable only if the rate and the circumstances were agreed in advance and in writing, and expenses only if agreed in advance and backed by receipts. - 3
Change things in writing too
As it happensIf the arrangement changes, write the change down in the same way. A change to your weekly rate needs a new contract, and a change to the notice period must be agreed in writing by both of you. - 4
If it is not working, raise it early
Straight awayTalk to the family contact first. If that fails, PrimeCarers can help with communication; the carer terms ask for an issue to be raised within 10 working days.
A change to the notice period has its own rule in the contract: it must be written down, agreed in writing by the other side without pressure, and it only takes effect one week after the agreement for live-in care. A rate change is also different. The carer terms say your rate should not change during a contract, so a new rate means ending the current contract and starting a new one with the client's agreement.
Two situations are worth agreeing before they happen. If the client goes into hospital, the contract makes cancelled care payable in full unless the reason is unplanned hospitalisation, illness or another reason you both agree, so an unplanned admission falls within the exceptions. Work you have already done is still owed. Agree what happens to your time and your room while the client is in hospital. The contract also has no clause about the death of the person you care for. If that happens during a placement, what you are paid and when you leave is for you and the family to agree, and it helps to have talked about it calmly at the start.
When you have agreed the terms and want to find the next placement, you can register as a carer on PrimeCarers and set your own weekly rate, or see the carer jobs open near you. How to find a live-in care job covers what families look for.
Questions
Questions carers ask before a live-in placement
Not for work booked through PrimeCarers. Every placement uses the same contract between you and the client, which covers your rate, bank holidays, notice, cancellations, expenses, travel, breaks, substitutes, confidentiality and leaving the home. What you add is a written note of the household arrangements. The documents you need explains the rest of your paperwork.
Families reading our guides are told that the household provides it, and that it is not taken from what the carer charges. There is no set allowance, so agree before you arrive how your food is bought and who buys it.
You pay no rent for the room, which comes with the placement. Council tax is the household's bill, not yours. Gov.uk lists a live-in carer for someone who is not their partner, spouse or child under 18 among the people not counted for council tax, and the household has to apply to the council for any discount. That is for the family to raise with their council.
Yes, if the placement does not involve driving. Some families want a carer who can drive the client to appointments, so say before you accept that you do not drive, and ask how the client gets out and about.
Only by agreement with you. Changes should be written down in the same way as the original arrangement. Your weekly rate cannot change during a contract, and a change to the notice period must be agreed in writing by both of you and only takes effect a week later.
Give the notice in the contract: 48 hours until you have worked 168 hours with the client, and 7 days after that. If you leave without notice, except for illness or a serious emergency, you are not paid for the notice period and the client may recover reasonable costs of replacement care. You can always leave straight away if staying would put you in danger.