The short answer
- £15 to £20 an hour, usually £18Each carer sets their own rate and it is on their profile before you message them. Our fee is already inside that figure, so the price you see is the price you pay.
- About £108 a week for three visitsTwo hours, three times a week, comes to £90 to £120. Two visits is £72 or so, every weekday about £180. The three weeks below show how the figure builds.
- Weekends and evenings cost no moreThe standard contract adds nothing for a Saturday, a Sunday or an evening. Bank holidays are one and a half times the carer's rate and Christmas Day is double. Travel is only charged if you agree it first.
- An agency charges £28 to £35 for the same hourBecause an agency employs its carers and carries the overheads of doing so. Finding somebody yourself is cheaper again, at £16 to £18, with the checks and the cover left to you.
Figures are what families pay carers on PrimeCarers, with our fee included, and what agencies quote for the same visit. Prices are September 2026.
The hourly rate
Why a companion costs £15 to £20 an hour
Companionship is the least physical kind of care, and the price follows. A companion is there for conversation, a walk, a game of cards, a trip to the shops and a hot drink, rather than for washing, dressing and moving somebody. The visits are easier on the carer, more carers are able to offer them, and that keeps the rate a few pounds below personal care.
- £15 an hour7%
- £16 an hour2%
- £17 an hour3%
- £18 an hour30%
- £19 an hour20%
- £20 an hour20%
- £21 an hour5%
- £22 an hour5%
- £23 an hour1%
- £24 an hour1%
- £25 an hour6%
Live from the platform, updated today. Rates are what the carer charges you with our fee already included, before any bank holiday uplift. The feed covers every hourly carer, so the darker bars are where companionship visits sit rather than a count of companions alone.
82%
Advertise between £15 and £20
The band companionship visits are booked in. Personal care sits a few pounds higher.
41%
Charge £18 or less
£18 is what most families pay a companion carer.
£20.58
Average across every hourly carer
Companions and personal carers together, our fee included.
The chart is every hourly carer on the platform, and companionship visits are booked from the darker bars at the lower end. A carer who does personal care will usually charge the same rate for a companionship visit, so if your relative may need help with washing later on it is worth choosing somebody who does both from the start. Personal care runs at £18 to £25 an hour, typically £20, and the hourly cost guide sets the whole range out by county.
Some carers advertise a lower rate for a long visit. Six hours or more in one go, a whole afternoon and evening for instance, is often listed at about £18 an hour, because the carer is not travelling between several short visits that day.
Three typical weeks
What a week of company costs
These are the three weeks families most often book, each with two-hour visits. The figures are the carer's rate with our fee included, and the monthly figure is the weekly one over a year divided by twelve. Most families start with two or three afternoons and add to it once they see how the visits go.
Two afternoons a week
Somebody who manages the day but has stopped going out and has nobody to talk to between family visits.
2 visits of 2 hours: 4 hours a week
- On PrimeCarers, a week
- £60 to £80
- Usually £72 a week, about £312 a month, with our fee included.
- Through an agency, a week
- £112 to £140
Three visits a week
A parent living alone after a bereavement, where the family wants somebody there every other day.
3 visits of 2 hours: 6 hours a week
- On PrimeCarers, a week
- £90 to £120
- Usually £108 a week, about £468 a month, with our fee included.
- Through an agency, a week
- £168 to £210
Every weekday
Early dementia, or a spouse who cares full time and needs the afternoons back.
5 visits of 2 hours: 10 hours a week
- On PrimeCarers, a week
- £150 to £200
- Usually £180 a week, about £780 a month, with our fee included.
- Through an agency, a week
- £280 to £350
Two-hour visits at £15 to £20 an hour, usually £18. Agency figures use £28 to £35 an hour and do not include the weekend uplift many agencies add. A Saturday or Sunday visit costs the same as a weekday one on PrimeCarers. Each carer sets their own rate and it is on their profile before you message them.
Two afternoons a week suits somebody who manages the day but has stopped going out and has nobody to talk to between family visits. At £72 a week it is the cheapest kind of care there is, and for a lot of families it is the only care needed for a year or two.
Three visits a week is the usual choice for a parent living alone after a bereavement, where the family wants somebody there every other day. Every other day is close enough for the carer to notice a change, a cold that is not shifting or food left in the fridge, before it becomes something bigger.
Every weekday is where companionship starts to do a second job. It suits early dementia, or a spouse who cares full time and needs the afternoons back. At £180 a week it is still well under a third of the cost of live-in care, which starts at £1,050 a week. If the hours climb past 35 a week, though, live-in care begins to cost about the same and covers the nights too. When live-in care becomes cheaper than visits shows where the line falls.
What moves the rate
What changes the price, and what does not
The rate on a carer's profile is the rate for an ordinary visit. A few things move it, and they are written into the standard contract you and the carer both sign rather than left to be discovered on the first invoice.
Bank holidays and Christmas Day
1.5x and 2x
Travel to your door
Only if agreed
What you get
What a companionship visit includes
The price buys the carer's time and their attention. What they do with it is agreed between you, your relative and the carer, and it can change from week to week. The boundary that matters for the rate is where companionship ends and personal care begins.
Part of a companionship visit
- Conversation, a cup of tea and a proper chat about the week
- A walk, a game of cards, the crossword, a favourite programme together
- Trips out: the shops, the garden centre, church, lunch with a friend
- Company at a GP or hospital appointment, and a note of what was said
- A light meal made together, and the washing up done
- Light housework around the person: a load of washing, the bins, the plants
- Prompting tablets that are already set out in a dosette box
- A phone call or message to the family after the visit
Personal care, and usually priced as such
- Help with washing, showering, dressing and toileting
- Continence care
- Moving somebody who cannot get up from a chair or bed on their own
- Giving medication rather than prompting it
- Cleaning the whole house, which is a cleaner’s job and paid as extra hours
- Waking nights and sleep-in nights, which are priced per night
The two lists are not a rule. A companion who also does personal care will happily help with a cardigan that will not do up, and nobody itemises it. What changes the rate is when personal care becomes the reason for the visit. At that point you are booking a personal carer who is also good company, at £18 to £25 an hour, and personal care at home explains what that involves. What companionship carers do and can carers take you out? go into the visits themselves.
Agency or private
The same hour through an agency, on PrimeCarers, or found yourself
Where you find the companion changes the price by more than anything else on this page. It also changes who does the checking, who provides the contract, and who finds cover when the carer is on holiday.
- Found yourself£16–18A carer you advertised for and checked yourself. No fee, and nothing done for you.
- PrimeCarers£15–20A self-employed carer you choose, with the checks, the contract and the insurance provided. Our fee is inside the rate.
- Care agency£28–35The agency employs the carer and sends whoever is on the rota. Often a weekend uplift on top.
PrimeCarers rates for September 2026, with our fee already in the price. Agency figures are what agencies quote for the same visit.
Companionship is the kind of care where the difference between an agency and a private carer shows most, because the whole point is that it is the same person each time. An agency sends whoever is free, and for a visit that is mostly conversation that matters more than it does for a morning wash. On PrimeCarers you choose the carer, read their profile and reviews, and they come every visit. Agency or private carer sets the two routes out properly, and if you want to find and check somebody entirely yourself, how to find a private carer covers where to look and what to ask for.
Help with paying
Where the money can come from
Companionship is rarely what a council will fund on its own, but there is help that many families never claim, and a few ways to get more company for the same money.
- 1
Claim Attendance Allowance
£77 or £115 a weekIf your relative is over State Pension age and has needed help or supervision for six months, Attendance Allowance is worth about £77 a week at the lower rate and £115 at the higher rate in 2026/27. It is not means-tested, it is not taxed, and it can be spent on a companion. Age UK will help with the form for nothing. - 2
Ask the council for a care needs assessment
FreeAnyone can ask, whatever their savings. If your relative has eligible needs and less than £23,250 in savings, the council may pay some of the cost, and a direct payment lets you spend it on a carer you choose. Loneliness on its own rarely meets the threshold, but a fall or a diagnosis often does. - 3
Mix a day centre or a sitting service with visits
For some of the hoursA day centre gives a whole day of company for less than a carer costs, and a sitting service covers a few hours so a family carer can get out. Neither replaces a companion your relative has chosen, but either can take some of the week. - 4
Book fewer, longer visits
Lower rate an hourTwo three-hour visits often cost less than three two-hour ones, and a visit of six hours or more is usually advertised at about £18 an hour. Ask the carer what they charge for a long afternoon.
Funding care walks through every route, including NHS Continuing Healthcare for people whose needs are mainly medical, and sitting services explains how a few hours of cover works when the person doing the caring is a husband, wife or daughter.
Before you book
What to agree about money before the first visit
Almost every disagreement about a carer's bill comes from something that was never said out loud. Ten minutes on the first phone call saves all of it.
Have you agreed all of this?
0 of 9 ticked
The rate
Getting there and going out
Changes and cancellations
Questions
Questions families ask about the cost of a companion
On PrimeCarers a companion carer charges £15 to £20 an hour with our fee included, and most families pay about £18. A care agency charges £28 to £35 an hour for the same visit, and often more at weekends. A carer you find and check yourself, with nothing done for you, is usually £16 to £18.
Companionship visits ask less of the carer physically. There is no washing, dressing, toileting or moving somebody, so more carers are able to offer them and the rate settles a few pounds lower, at £15 to £20 an hour against £18 to £25 for personal care. A carer who does both will usually charge the same rate for either kind of visit.
With two-hour visits, two afternoons a week comes to about £72, three visits about £108, and every weekday about £180. Those are at £18 an hour; the full range is £15 to £20. The three typical weeks show how each figure builds.
Not under the standard PrimeCarers contract, which adds nothing for a Saturday, a Sunday or an evening visit. Bank holidays are charged at one and a half times the carer's normal rate and Christmas Day at twice it. Many agencies add 25% to 50% at weekends. Weekend, evening and bank holiday rates has the detail.
Only if you agree it in advance and in writing, with the rate and the circumstances set out. Most carers charge nothing for travel to the house. Mileage on an outing in the carer's own car is the same: nothing unless agreed, and usually 55p a mile where it is. Tickets, meals and entry fees on a trip out are at cost.
One hour, booked in half-hour steps. For company most families choose two hours, because an hour goes quickly once the kettle is on. Long visits of six hours or more are often advertised at a lower hourly rate, about £18. More on the minimum visit.
Rarely on its own. Councils fund care that meets their eligibility threshold, and loneliness without other needs seldom does. A care needs assessment is still worth asking for, because a fall, a diagnosis or a family carer at the end of their tether can change the answer, and a direct payment can then be spent on a carer you choose. Attendance Allowance is the help most families can get: about £77 or £115 a week in 2026/27, not means-tested, and yours to spend on a companion. Funding care explains each route.
Our fee, insurance cover while the carer is working, the contract between you and the carer, invoicing and payments, and continuous DBS monitoring for as long as the carer works. Every carer has had an enhanced DBS check, an identity check and a right-to-work check and an online interview before they appear. Their skills and experience are for you to ask about. How we check carers.