Frequently Asked Questions for Clients

No. PrimeCarers introduces families to self-employed private carers and handles the contract, invoices and payments. We don’t employ carers, supply them or supervise their care, and we hold no CQC registration. You choose the carer, and you agree the care with them directly.

A private carer is a self-employed carer you arrange directly, rather than through an agency. They set their own rate, you choose them and agree the visits with them, and it is usually the same carer each time rather than a rota of different faces. Private carers explains more.

Put your postcode into the search on our homepage. You’ll see the private carers who cover your area, with their rates, the help they offer and any reviews they have. Message the ones you like, and we suggest meeting them before you book.

Searching and messaging carers is free. Each carer sets their own rate and our fee is already included in it, so the rate on their profile is the price for a new booking. Bank holidays are charged at a higher rate, and extras such as mileage are paid only if you agree them in advance. Visits are typically £19.47 an hour, overnight care starts from £160 a night, and live-in care is typically £1,120 a week. Our prices has the full breakdown.

Before a carer can be booked we check their identity and right to work in the UK, and they need an accepted criminal record check: an enhanced DBS issued in the last 2 years or kept up to date on the DBS Update Service (PVG in Scotland, Access NI in Northern Ireland). Each carer also records an online interview, answered in their own time. We don’t check qualifications, training or references, so ask the carer about those before you book. How we check carers goes through each check.

Yes, and we recommend it. Message the carers you like and arrange to meet them by video or at home before you book.

Yes, though not every carer offers every kind of care. Between them, carers on PrimeCarers offer hourly visits, sleeping and waking nights, and live-in care, where a carer lives in the home. Live-in care usually costs from £1,050 a week. Live-in care and overnight care explain how each works.

Use our urgent finder and we will look for carers who may be able to start soon. We aim to reply quickly, but we can’t promise someone will be free. Asking is free, and there is a one-off £40 fee only if you go ahead with a carer we find. Emergency care has the details.

No, and neither is PrimeCarers. You agree the visits with a self-employed carer under a written agreement, they invoice for the hours worked, and they are responsible for their own tax and National Insurance. Self-employed carer or employee explains how that works.

Visits booked through PrimeCarers are covered by the carer insurance policy we arrange, within its terms. It covers the carer’s public liability for everyday care. It does not cover clinical procedures of any kind (other than prompting or handing over oral medicines), and tasks such as giving medicines or moving and handling are covered only where the carer has been trained for them. Work arranged outside the platform is not covered. Read the policy before you rely on it.

Usually, yes. A direct payment is there to be spent on meeting assessed needs, and a self-employed carer you choose is a common way to do that. Payment runs through PrimeCarers, so the invoices for the visits you booked are there when the council reviews your spending. Check with your council’s direct payments team before you start, as rules differ. How direct payments work.

Tell us and we will try to help you find another carer on PrimeCarers. We can’t guarantee cover, so it’s worth agreeing a back-up plan with your carer early on, such as a second carer who knows the routine.

Yes. PrimeCarers charges nothing to stop or change care. The notice is set in the contract: 48 hours for hourly care, and for live-in care 48 hours until the carer has worked 7 days (168 hours), then 7 days. Visits already agreed within the notice period are usually still payable, unless the reason is unplanned hospitalisation, illness or a reason you and the carer agree.

PrimeCarers has carers across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. How many cover your area depends on where you live, and towns and cities usually have more than rural areas. Search your postcode to see who is near you.

For an ordinary hour, night or day, yes. The rate a carer shows has our fee and the VAT on it already inside, and nothing is added at checkout. Under the contract, bank holidays are charged at one and a half times the rate and Christmas Day at double. Anything else, such as mileage or a live-in carer’s food, is extra only if you agree it with the carer beforehand. What care at home costs puts the rates side by side.

We take a fee from the rate the carer sets. It is already inside the price on their profile, and the VAT due on it is paid out of that fee rather than added to your bill.

• Hourly visits under 6 hours. Of the price you pay, the carer keeps 80%; our standard fee is 20%, already included.
• Visits of 6 hours or more, including overnights. Of the price you pay, the carer keeps 85%; our standard fee is 15%, already included.
• Live-in care. Of the price you pay, the carer keeps 87.5%; our standard fee is 12.5%, already included.

Families who want more support can add a managed service. The optional managed service is the only ongoing fee added on top: 5% for Managed, or 10% for Fully Managed, which is for live-in care only.

No. No VAT is added to a carer’s rate, and the VAT on our commission comes out of the commission. For an ordinary visit, the figure on the profile is the figure on the invoice.

Through PrimeCarers, usually by card or Direct Debit after the care has happened. Payment is worked out from the visits that were booked, so check the bookings are right before the invoice goes out. Work introduced through PrimeCarers must be booked and paid through the platform under the terms. Platform-arranged insurance applies only to eligible visits, subject to the policy; do not assume off-platform work is covered.

For care at home there is no deposit, no joining fee and no package to sign up to. A single visit is enough; check the durations and rates offered by your carer. Either side can end hourly care with 48 hours’ notice. How to find the best carers explains how families try a carer before committing to anything regular.

Under the contract a visit you cancel is payable in full, unless it is because of unplanned hospitalisation or illness, or for another reason you and the carer agree between you. The carer may waive part or all of it at their own discretion. PrimeCarers does not charge anything of its own when a visit is cancelled. Read the contract.

Under the standard contract, weekends are charged at the carer’s normal rate, bank holidays at one and a half times the normal rate, and Christmas Day at double.

Not on their own. The rate in your contract stays as agreed, and changing it means changing the contract through PrimeCarers. A carer can change the rate they advertise for new bookings, so the price on their profile may differ from the one in an older contract.

Only if you have agreed it in advance, in writing, with the rate and the circumstances. Where a carer drives your relative in their own car, the HMRC rate of 55p a mile is the usual reference point.

Agencies typically charge £28 to £35 an hour and keep a large share of it to cover their offices, rotas and management; the carer doing the visit is typically paid around £12. On PrimeCarers the carer sets the rate and our fee is 20% of it for an hourly visit, so the carer keeps £15.58 of a £19.47 hour. The fee is lower on longer bookings: 15% on a shift of six hours or more, and 12.5% on live-in care. So for the same visit, a family usually pays less and the carer usually keeps more.