Holidays for unpaid carers: help with the cost and cover at home

The first kind is time away from caring altogether. It depends entirely on somebody else being with your relative while you are gone, so the cost of that cover needs planning alongside the cost of the trip. The second keeps you together, which suits some families well, but on that trip you are still the one helping with washing, medication and the bad nights unless somebody comes to share it. The third gives you time at home to yourself while your relative stays somewhere with care on hand.

It helps to be clear about which of these you need, because the organisations you will speak to ask the question in their own way. A council looking at a carer's assessment is asking what support keeps you able to carry on caring. A grant-giving charity is asking what the money would pay for. A venue offering a free carer place is assuming you are there to help. If you know the answer before you ring, each conversation is shorter. Companionship care and holidays with an older relative cover the trips you take together in more detail.

The assessment looks at you rather than at your relative: how much caring you do, how it affects your health, your work and the rest of your life, and whether you can keep going as things are. The statutory guidance says plainly that a council must have regard to the possibility that a carer needs a break, and it names longer periods of replacement care as one way of giving a carer a longer break from caring. What is a carer's assessment? explains the assessment itself and what the eligibility test looks like.

There are two ways the outcome can help with a holiday. The first is replacement care: a carer or a short stay arranged for your relative so that you can go away. The guidance treats this as a service to the person you look after, so any charge for it is assessed on their income and savings rather than yours. The second is a personal budget of your own as a carer. The guidance gives examples of how that can be used to look after a carer's wellbeing, and councils are not required to charge carers for their own support. Neither of these is guaranteed, and what a council offers varies.

1. 1

   Ask for a carer's assessment

   Ring or apply online

   Contact the adult social care team at the council for the area where your relative lives. Say that you are an unpaid carer and that you need a break. The assessment is free.
2. 2

   Say what a break would need

   At the assessment

   Be specific about how many days you would be away, what your relative needs help with across the day and night, and who, if anybody, could step in. Mention your own health if caring is affecting it.
3. 3

   Get the support plan in writing

   After the assessment

   If you have eligible needs, the council must write a support plan saying how they will be met. Ask whether replacement care is included and whether it can be taken as a direct payment, so that you can choose the carer yourselves.
4. 4

   Book the dates once the plan is agreed

   Before you pay for a trip

   Ask how much notice the council needs for replacement care and who arranges it. A plan agreed before you book is easier than one sought after the flights are paid for.
5. 5

   If you are refused or the support seems too little

   Ask for reasons

   Ask for the decision and the reasons in writing, then use the council's complaints process. If that does not settle it, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman looks at complaints about adult social care.

If your relative has not had a needs assessment of their own, ask for one at the same time. It is the route to any funded care for them, and it decides whether the council will contribute to the cover while you are away. A direct payment from either assessment can be spent on a self-employed carer you choose. Direct payments explains how that works, and how to fund respite sets out every source of money for a break, including the council. Complaints about adult social care that the council cannot resolve go to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

When you apply for a grant, say what the money is for in plain terms: a week's cover at home so that you can go away, or a share of an accessible holiday you will take together. A clear purpose with a costed figure gives the charity what it needs to make a decision. Have a quote for the cover ready. The cover figures further down this page are a reasonable starting point, and a carer can confirm their own rate for your dates.

Some grants for a particular condition or a former trade are worth a look as well. A charity linked to your relative's old employer or profession, or to their condition, may consider a request for a break, and the Turn2us search lets you filter for those. Ask the charity before you assume you are not eligible, and do not book anything that depends on a grant until it has been confirmed in writing.

The idea behind a free carer place is that the disabled person could not go without somebody to help them, so the venue does not charge for the person giving the help. That makes these places useful for a holiday you take together, where the cost of the trip falls by one ticket. They do not help you get a rest from caring, because you are there to help, and if your relative needs help through the night you will still be doing it on holiday.

Each organisation decides what proof it wants. Some ask for a letter showing that the disabled person receives a disability benefit, and others accept a card from a national scheme. Bring whatever paperwork you have, and check the terms on the organisation's own site rather than relying on a list, because these schemes change and some apply only on certain dates or with advance booking.

If you would rather somebody else did the caring on the trip, a paid carer can come with you, with their travel, room and meals agreed with them before you book. Can you take a carer on holiday with you? goes through how to plan and agree it, and where to take an older person on holiday in the UK suggests places with step-free access. For a relative with dementia, dementia-friendly holidays covers what tends to suit them.

Which arrangement fits depends on how long your relative can safely be on their own. Somebody who manages the afternoons and sleeps through the night can be covered by daily visits, at £378 to £525 for a week of three visits a day. If the nights are difficult, or they get up and wander, visits alone leave the riskiest hours with nobody there, and a carer overnight or a live-in carer is safer. A live-in carer is one person staying in the house for the dates you are away, from £1,050 a week, and it needs a spare room and a bed for them.

When you are ready to arrange it, the cover brief at the top of this page asks for the dates, the kind of cover and where it is needed, and sets your account up as you go. Holiday cover for the week or two you are away goes through what a week and a fortnight cost, what the booking commits you to, and what to write down before you leave. Give yourself time to meet the carer before you go, so your relative is not meeting a stranger on the morning you leave.

Every carer on PrimeCarers has had an identity check, a right to work check and an enhanced DBS check (or PVG in Scotland, Access NI in Northern Ireland) issued within the last 2 years, and has been interviewed online. We do not check qualifications, training or references. References from past employers and families and reviews from PrimeCarers bookings appear on a carer's profile but are not verified by us, so go through their experience with the carer yourself. Insurance is separate from these checks: visits booked through PrimeCarers are covered by the carer insurance policy we arrange, within its terms. It does not cover clinical procedures, and work arranged outside the platform is not covered. Carers are self-employed, and the arrangement for the week is between you and the carer.

If a full week feels like too much to arrange for a first break, a few hours at a time can help. A sitting service covers an afternoon or an evening, and planning respite for the first time goes through a first break step by step. If you are finding it hard to leave at all, feeling guilty about taking a break is written for you.

Carer's Allowance is £86.45 a week in 2026/27, for caring at least 35 hours a week for somebody who gets a qualifying disability benefit. The GOV.UK pages on reporting a break in caring and on claiming benefits while abroad are short and worth reading before you book. If you are not sure whether a break crosses a limit, ring the Carer's Allowance Unit and ask. Not reporting a change can lead to an overpayment you have to repay.