The short answer
- Sharing the annexe needs a second bedroomThe carer sleeps in a room of their own with a door that closes, close enough to hear your parent at night.
- A carer in a separate annexe needs a way to be calledIf your parent stays in the house, decide before the first night how they will reach the carer, and whether nights are quiet enough for it.
- You and the carer agree the detailsThe contract on PrimeCarers says nothing specific about annexes, so write down the room, food, bills and breaks before the carer moves in.
- Ask the council about council tax firstWho lives in the annexe decides the bill. A dependent parent can keep it exempt, and a carer living there alone is a question for the council.
Live-in care on PrimeCarers costs £1,050 to £1,400 a week with our fee included, against about £1,400 a week from an agency. Council tax and tax points are for England.
Two set-ups
The two ways a live-in carer and an annexe fit together
The question that decides everything else is who sleeps where. Either your parent moves into the annexe and the carer lives there with them, or your parent stays in the main house and the annexe becomes the carer's own space.
A live-in carer helps your parent through the day and sleeps in their home at night, getting up if they are needed. Live-in care explains how that works. With an annexe on the property there are two homes to choose from, and the plan below answers the same five questions for each.
Set-up 1
Your parent and the carer share the annexe
You and your family
Your parent, and the carer in a second bedroom
- Where the carer sleeps
- In a second bedroom in the annexe, with a door that closes. It should never be your parent's room or a sofa bed.
- Nights
- The carer is under the same roof as your parent and can hear them, as in any live-in arrangement.
- The daily break
- Somebody from the main house can sit with your parent while the carer is off duty, if you agree it.
- Council tax on the annexe
- If your parent counts as a dependent relative, the annexe can stay exempt with a carer living there too.
- Works best when
- The annexe has two bedrooms and your parent needs help at many points of the day and some nights.
Set-up 2
Your parent stays in the house and the carer lives in the annexe
Your parent, perhaps with family
The carer, in a space of their own
- Where the carer sleeps
- In the annexe, with more privacy than a spare room in the house can give.
- Nights
- The carer is in a different building. They need a reliable way to hear or be called by your parent at night.
- The daily break
- The carer can take it in the annexe, but your parent may be on their own in the house while they do.
- Council tax on the annexe
- It depends on whether the council treats the annexe as the carer's home. Ask before the carer moves in.
- Works best when
- Your parent is mostly settled at night, or someone else sleeps in the main house.
Council tax points are for England. Your council decides how they apply to your annexe.
The first set-up follows the usual live-in pattern, because the carer lives under the same roof as your parent. The second can suit a parent who is settled at night, but it changes what the carer can do after dark. If you are still deciding whether an annexe is right for your parent, care in a granny annexe shows how care can build up there, and the granny annexes guide covers finding, building and paying for one.
The carer in the annexe
If the carer lives in the annexe next to your parent's home
Some families keep their parent in the main house, where they are settled, and offer the annexe to the carer. The carer gets privacy, and the part to plan is the night.
The carer spends the day in the main house with your parent and goes back to the annexe to rest and sleep. From the annexe they will not hear a call or a fall at night unless you put something in place, so this works only if your parent can call the carer reliably and nights are mostly quiet.
- 1
Put in a way to call the carer at night
Before the first nightA call bell, an alarm pendant or a monitor that sounds in the annexe. Test that it reaches the carer's bedroom with the doors closed. - 2
Be clear about how many nights are disturbed
When you talk to carersGetting up once or twice is part of an ordinary live-in night. If your parent needs help more than that, or needs somebody awake, the carer needs to be in the house or a night carer needs to come in. - 3
Agree how the carer gets into the house
Before the first nightA key or a key safe for the main house, and when the carer comes over in the morning. - 4
Decide who else is in the house
If family lives thereIf a relative sleeps in the main house, they are the person close by at night. Say so plainly, so nobody assumes the other is listening.
Do live-in carers stay overnight? explains where a sleeping night ends and a waking night begins. If your parent's nights become harder, a waking-night carer can come in so the live-in carer can sleep, at £148 a night on top of the live-in week on PrimeCarers.
Agree how the carer's food is paid for and who pays the annexe's heating and electricity. The contract on PrimeCarers says nothing about accommodation, so this is between you and the carer. Does a live-in carer pay rent? explains why the room that comes with the job is not a tenancy.
Cost and council tax
What it costs, and how council tax and tax apply
The weekly cost of live-in care is agreed with the carer. What an annexe changes is mainly council tax, because a self-contained annexe can be banded on its own, with a bill of its own.
On PrimeCarers, live-in care costs £1,050 to £1,400 a week with our fee included, and more for complex care, against about £1,400 a week from an agency. The cost of live-in care sets out what changes the price. Notice to end the arrangement, for either of you, is 48 hours until the carer has worked 168 hours, and 7 days after that.
Council tax depends on who lives in the annexe as their main home. These are the rules in England, and your council applies them to your property.
| Council tax on the annexe | The carer disregard | |
|---|---|---|
| Your parent and the carer share the annexe | Exempt if your parent is a dependent relative of somebody in the main house: aged 65 or over, or severely mentally impaired, or substantially and permanently disabled. The rule does not say your parent must live there alone. | If the annexe is not exempt, the carer can be left out of the count of adults when they live there, give at least 35 hours of care a week, and your parent gets a qualifying benefit such as Attendance Allowance. |
| Your parent in the house, the carer in the annexe | Depends on whether the council treats the annexe as the carer's main home, or as part of the family's home. Ask the council before the carer moves in. | Does not help with the annexe bill, because the condition is that the carer lives in the same home as the person they care for. Ask the council how it counts the carer. |
Your parent and the carer share the annexe
- Council tax on the annexe
- Exempt if your parent is a dependent relative of somebody in the main house: aged 65 or over, or severely mentally impaired, or substantially and permanently disabled. The rule does not say your parent must live there alone.
- The carer disregard
- If the annexe is not exempt, the carer can be left out of the count of adults when they live there, give at least 35 hours of care a week, and your parent gets a qualifying benefit such as Attendance Allowance.
Your parent in the house, the carer in the annexe
- Council tax on the annexe
- Depends on whether the council treats the annexe as the carer's main home, or as part of the family's home. Ask the council before the carer moves in.
- The carer disregard
- Does not help with the annexe bill, because the condition is that the carer lives in the same home as the person they care for. Ask the council how it counts the carer.
Sources: the Council Tax (Exempt Dwellings) Order 1992, Class W, and the Council Tax (Additional Provisions for Discount Disregards) Regulations 1992, Schedule, Part II. You have to apply for a discount or exemption even when it applies.
The wording is in Class W of the Exempt Dwellings Order and the Discount Disregards Regulations, and gov.uk lists who is disregarded for council tax. Is a granny annexe subject to council tax? explains how an annexe gets its band and the discount for a family annexe, and Attendance Allowance explains the benefit the carer disregard depends on.
On income tax, a carer on PrimeCarers is self-employed and declares their own income, so there is no benefit in kind for your family to report on the room or the annexe. If your relative employs a carer directly instead, a self-contained annexe can be treated differently from a room in the house, and tax and live-in care explains when to ask HMRC or a payroll adviser first.
When the set-up is clear, you can search for live-in carers near you and compare their rates. Carers on PrimeCarers are self-employed, and you choose them and agree the arrangement with them directly. PrimeCarers is an introductory service and does not provide or manage the care. Before a carer appears on PrimeCarers we check their ID and right to work, they hold an enhanced DBS check (or PVG in Scotland, Access NI in Northern Ireland) issued within the last 2 years, and they have passed an online interview. We do not check qualifications, training or references: references and reviews appear on each profile unverified, so ask the carer about their experience and training yourself. Separately, carers are insured while they work. If you would rather somebody else handled bookings and holiday cover, the managed service does that for an added percentage.
Questions
Questions families ask about a live-in carer and an annexe
Yes. Your parent can live in the annexe with the carer in a second bedroom, or your parent can stay in the main house while the carer lives in the annexe. The second needs a call bell or monitor that reaches the annexe, and suits a parent whose nights are mostly quiet.
Only if there is another room that can be closed off as a private bedroom for the carer, such as a small study. A live-in carer should not sleep in your parent's room or on a sofa bed. If there is none, consider the carer living in the annexe while your parent stays in the house, or visits instead.
No. The annexe comes with the job, as a room in the house would. Agree in writing who pays for food, heating and electricity in the annexe, because the contract on PrimeCarers does not cover it. Does a live-in carer pay rent? explains why it is not a tenancy.
It can. If your parent lives in the annexe and counts as a dependent relative, the annexe can stay exempt with the carer living there too. If the carer lives in the annexe on their own, the bill depends on whether the council treats it as the carer's main home. Ask your council first, and apply, because nothing is given automatically.
PrimeCarers does not publish a different rate for a carer who lives in an annexe. The weekly rate is agreed with the carer you choose. On PrimeCarers live-in care costs £1,050 to £1,400 a week with our fee included. If nights become disturbed, a waking-night carer is £148 a night on top.