Care over Christmas and bank holidays: booking early, what it costs and who to ring

If your parent has just come out of hospital and the holiday is almost here, discharge is tomorrow and there is no care covers the questions to ask the ward and the free help to ask for, and what to do while you wait covers the days before help starts. If the usual carer is ill or away rather than the family, when your carer is ill or on holiday goes through the places cover comes from. And if you are the family carer and you are the one going away, holiday cover while you are away sets out what a week or a fortnight of cover involves.

Why in writing? The contract says all notices between you and the carer are in writing, and a message on the platform or by WhatsApp counts. A clear written list of dates and times protects both of you when the invoice arrives in January, because the invoice is built from what the two of you entered as booked. It also means there is no confusion about whether a visit on the 28th was agreed or only mentioned. Writing a care plan together covers what else the carer needs to know, and the four standard visits help if you are deciding which parts of Christmas Day to cover.

Nothing here guarantees that a carer will be free on the day you need. Every carer on PrimeCarers is self-employed and decides for themselves which days they work, so you search for carers near your parent and ask them yourself. Before a carer appears on the site, their identity and right to work are checked, their enhanced DBS is checked on the Update Service, and they have an online interview. We do not check qualifications, training or references: references are not on a profile, so ask the carer for referees and call them yourself, and skills and training are for you to ask the carer about. Every visit booked through PrimeCarers is insured, by the carer's own policy or by cover we arrange where they do not hold one.

The uplift is in the contract, so it is the same for every carer on PrimeCarers and applies to the rate they set and show on their profile. Carers on PrimeCarers charge £18 to £25 an hour with our fee included, so a Christmas Day hour is between £36 and £50. For comparison, an agency charges £28 to £35 for an ordinary hour before any holiday uplift of its own.

As an example, suppose your parent has an hour every morning at £20 an hour, and you book the fortnight in the calendar above. Twelve of the fourteen mornings are at the normal rate. New Year's Day is £30 and Christmas Day is £40. Boxing Day is the one to settle in writing, because this year it falls on a Saturday and the bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December. The same contract applies to live-in care, so if a live-in carer is with your parent over Christmas, ask them to show how the uplift appears on the week and write down what you agree.

Boxing Day and New Year's Day are ordinary bank holidays under the contract, so each is one and a half times rather than double. Easter Sunday is not a bank holiday in England, so it is the normal rate, while Good Friday and Easter Monday are one and a half times. Weekend, evening and bank holiday rates sets out how the rate works on every other day of the year, and what is in the hourly rate explains what the figure on a profile includes.

NHS 111 is the number to keep in mind for anything medical that is not an emergency, because it stays open when the surgery does not. If your parent has care needs that the service ought to know about, such as an existing care plan or a complex medical condition, ring rather than using the online service, because the NHS asks people in that position to call. For the council, gov.uk will find your council from a postcode, and the emergency duty team's number is on that council's own site. What to do while you wait explains what the emergency duty team can do and what to say when you ring.

If a carer rings in ill on Christmas morning, the first question is whether your parent is safe to be left for the next few hours. When your carer is ill or on holiday takes you through the first morning in order.

The NHS page on how to order a repeat prescription sets out the ways to order, and Find a pharmacy lists opening times by postcode. If a carer helps your parent with their tablets, agree beforehand exactly what they will do, whether that is a reminder or handing over a dosette box, and read can carers give medication? if you are unsure what a carer can do.

The companionship care guide explains what a companion carer does, what a companion visit looks like walks through one, and Christmas companionship for a parent who will be on their own plans the holiday week with them. If loneliness is a worry all year rather than only at Christmas, helping someone who is lonely goes further. Age UK's page on loneliness links to the Silver Line Helpline and its telephone friendship service.

If you care for your parent and are spending Christmas elsewhere, feeling torn is understandable, and feeling guilty about taking a break is written for that.