The short answer
- Pack documents and your own medicines firstPhoto ID, your DBS certificate, your driving licence if you will drive, and enough of your own prescription to last the placement.
- The care plan belongs to the family and guides youUnder the contract, routines and care plans guide you, and you decide how the care is done. Ask for them at the handover.
- Notice is 48 hours at firstUntil you have been present for 168 hours, either side can end the placement with 48 hours' notice. After that it is 7 days.
- If it is not as described, say so early and in writingRaise it with the family the same day. Leaving at once without notice is for when staying would put your own safety at risk.
Contract terms checked against the client and carer contract for visits from 8 December 2025 and the carer terms of service, 22 September 2026.
What to pack
What to pack for a live-in placement
You will be living in somebody else's spare room for days or weeks, often some distance from home. Pack for the work, for your own health and for the evenings, and check with the family beforehand what the house already has.
A packing list for a first live-in placement
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Documents
For the work
For you
Start with the documents. PrimeCarers checks your identity, your right to work and an enhanced DBS certificate issued within the last 18 months, but a family meeting you on the doorstep has not seen any of that paperwork and may ask to. If they want to check your certificate online, gov.uk explains that anyone checking its status must be legally entitled to and have your permission. Enhanced DBS and the Update Service covers how it works for a self-employed carer. If you will drive the client, you can create a licence check code on gov.uk to share your record; the code lasts 21 days. On insurance, do I need insurance? explains what to hold.
For your own medicines, you can order a repeat prescription in the NHS App and collect it from a pharmacy you choose, and the NHS asks for the request up to 5 working days before you need the medicine. If you fall ill during a long placement, you can register with a GP surgery as a temporary patient near the client for up to 3 months.
Your room, your food and the wifi are for you and the family to settle before you arrive. What to agree before a live-in placement has that list in full, so it is not repeated here. This guide is one of the live-in guides in carer resources.
The handover
What to cover at the handover with the family or the outgoing carer
On a first placement the handover usually comes from a relative. Where another live-in carer is leaving as you arrive, it may come from them as well. Either way, give it an hour or two, sit down with the client where you can, and write things down as you go.
The daily routine
Medicines
The care plan
Known risks
Contacts
The house
The contract describes how the care plan fits. Routines, care plans, schedules and preferences the client gives you are information, not direction or supervision, and you keep full discretion over how you do the work. You also agree to treat the client's wishes as guidance and to provide the care as agreed, including medication schedules. PrimeCarers does not write, review or keep care plans. If the plan is out of date or missing, ask the family to put the main points in a message.
The client also has to tell you about known risks in advance and keep you updated as they change. The handover is where you check that nothing has been left out. If a task is beyond what you are trained to do, such as a medicine you have not given before, the contract says not to take it on and to tell the client so they can arrange something else. What families are told about carers and medication sets out the difference between reminding somebody to take a dose and giving it.
If an outgoing carer is there, ask what the paperwork leaves out, such as when the client gets restless. What you learn about the client is confidential under the contract.
It also helps to know what the family has read. What families are told about the daily routine describes a typical day, and what families are told about establishing a routine suggests agreeing it with the carer in the first week or two and reviewing it after a few weeks.
The first week
The first 48 hours and the first week, stage by stage
Most of the first week is learning the household. Keep to the routine you were given while you learn how the client likes things done, note what differs from what you were told, and agree changes in writing as you go.
- Notice: 48 hours
Before you travel
Accept the booking and confirm the arrival
- Accept the booking on PrimeCarers before you set off. The carer terms do not allow you to attend a visit you have not accepted.
- Confirm the address, your arrival time, who will meet you and how you get in.
- Send one message listing what you and the family agreed, and keep the reply.
- Notice: 48 hours
Arrival day
The handover and a walk round the house
- Go through the routine, the medicines and the care plan with the family or the outgoing carer.
- Find the medicines, the keys, the stopcock, the fuse box and the smoke alarms.
- Put the emergency numbers in your phone and on paper.
- Notice: 48 hours
The first 48 hours
Follow the routine you were given and write down questions
- Keep to the client's usual times while you learn how they like things done.
- Note anything that differs from what you were told, with the date.
- Take your first break when you agreed to, so the pattern starts on day one.
- Notice: 48 hours
Days 3 to 7
Settle the pattern and check the bookings
- Talk to the family contact about what you have noticed and agree any changes in writing.
- Check the booking on the platform shows the right dates, because invoices are built from it.
- Notice: 7 days
After 168 hours
Your notice period changes
- Once you have been present for 168 hours, notice on either side becomes 7 days.
- A short review with the family contact is a good way to end the first week.
The first night can be unsettled for you and the client. Before the family leaves on day one, agree how the client will call you in the night, and ask how often they usually wake. A live-in placement assumes you sleep. If you are up for long spells, note the times so you can raise it with the family. Live-in carer hours, breaks and time off covers disturbed nights and your daily rest in detail.
The contract treats email, WhatsApp and the messaging on PrimeCarers as writing, and it says the details stored on the platform, including agreed variations, form part of the agreement. So when you and the family agree a change in the first week, such as a later bedtime or a different time for your break, put it in a message and ask them to reply. Invoices are built from the bookings on the platform, and the contract makes you and the client jointly responsible for keeping them accurate. Live-in carer pay, from your side explains what reaches you from each weekly rate.
If it is not as described
What to do if the placement is not what you were told
Sometimes the client needs far more help than the family described, the nights are broken, or the room is not what was agreed. Many can be sorted out by talking. If not, the contract sets out how either of you can end the placement.
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Talk to the family contact the same day
Straight awaySay what is different from what you were told, with examples. Ask whether it can change, for example a second carer at night or a different routine. - 2
Put it in writing
The same daySend a message setting out what you raised and what was agreed. It is your record if things do not improve. - 3
Ask PrimeCarers to help with communication
Within 10 working daysThe carer terms ask you to raise an issue within 10 working days. PrimeCarers can help the two of you talk, but it does not decide who is right. - 4
Give notice if it cannot be put right
48 hours or 7 daysIn writing. 48 hours until you have been present for 168 hours, then 7 days. Work you have done is still paid.
Leaving without notice has a cost. Unless you are ill or there is a serious emergency, you are not paid for the visits that would have fallen in the notice period, and the client can recover reasonable costs of replacement care. The contract also says nothing stops you leaving at once where staying would endanger your own safety, and the client must not pressure you into care you cannot give safely. If the client ends the arrangement over safety or a breakdown in trust, you have to leave the home within a practicable time, and you are still owed for the work you have done.
When you are ready for your next placement, or if this one ends early, 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 first live-in placement
Photo ID, your DBS certificate, your driving licence if you will drive, your insurance details if you hold your own policy, comfortable work clothes, any protective equipment you use, your own medicines, chargers, and something of your own for the room. Ask the family beforehand what the house already has.
Usually a family member, and sometimes the carer who is leaving as well. Ask for the routine, the medicines, the care plan, known risks, the contacts and a walk round the house, and write it down as you go.
Under the contract, the care plan and routines are information from the client, not direction. You treat the client's wishes as guidance and decide how the care is done. You should not take on a task you are not trained for; tell the client, so they can arrange something else.
Raise it with the family contact straight away and put what you agree in a message. If it cannot be put right, either of you can end the placement with 48 hours' notice until you have been present for 168 hours, and 7 days after that.
If staying would put your own safety at risk, yes. Otherwise give notice. Leaving without it, except for illness or a serious emergency, means you are not paid for the notice period and the client can recover reasonable costs of replacement care.
Order repeats in the NHS App or on the NHS website and collect them from a pharmacy you choose, up to 5 working days before you need them. On a long placement you can register with a GP near the client as a temporary patient for up to 3 months.