Bath lifts and boards: cheaper ways to keep the bath

All three start the same way. Your parent sits down at the height of the bath rim, with their feet still on the bathroom floor, and then lifts one leg and then the other over the side. What changes is what happens next. On a board they stay up at that height and wash there. With a seat they lower themselves part of the way down, using their arms. With a powered lift the seat does the lowering and the raising for them.

So the choice depends on which step has become hard. If standing on one leg to step over the side is the only problem, a board may be enough, and it costs little. If your parent can manage the step over but finds sitting down in the bath and getting back up again the hard part, a powered lift takes that effort away. If they have lost the strength or movement in their hips to swing their legs over even while sitting, none of the three will work, and walk-in baths and walk-in showers and wet rooms are the next guides to read.

Telford & Wrekin Council's 2026 bathing factsheet adds two cautions about powered lifts. Someone with dementia or the after-effects of a stroke may find it hard to follow the steps in the right order or to use the handset, and the lift is heavy to lift in and out if other people in the house use the bath too. Both are worth thinking about before you spend money on one.

This guide is part of the PrimeCarers mobility and falls care pages. If the bathroom needs a wider look, from rails and toilet frames to shower seats, bathroom aids for older people covers the smaller pieces of equipment.

1. 1

   Ask adult social care for an assessment

   Free, any income

   Ring the council where your parent lives, or use its online form, and say they are struggling to get in and out of the bath. If your parent is in hospital, ask the ward team about bathing equipment before they come home.
2. 2

   An occupational therapist visits

   At home

   They watch how your parent manages, measure the bath and the space around it, and recommend the equipment that fits. They may suggest an aid for the shower instead, if there is one in the house.
3. 3

   The equipment is delivered on loan

   No charge

   Equipment the council agrees your parent needs is lent free. Some services check and service electrical equipment such as a powered lift once a year, and you contact them if anything goes wrong with it.
4. 4

   It is collected when it is no longer needed

   When needs change

   Ring the equipment service when your parent stops using it, or if their needs change and the aid no longer suits them. Ask for a review rather than buying something bigger yourself.

The rule behind this is in the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014: a council in England must not charge for an aid, or a minor adaptation costing £1,000 or less, that it provides to meet needs it has assessed. The NHS guide to home adaptations gives the same advice to start with an assessment from social services, and the care needs assessment explains how to ask for one and what to expect on the day.

Each council runs its service its own way. Wakefield's community equipment service, for example, lists bath lifts among what it lends, free for as long as it is needed. Telford's factsheet says the council supports access to one bathing or showering facility in a home, and that if a family still wants a different one after the assessment they will need to buy it themselves, though they can try equipment at the council's independent living centre first. Ask your parent's council how its service works, and ask to try the aid before you buy one privately. Free equipment for older people covers what else the council, the NHS and charities can lend or fit at no cost.

The zero rate depends on your parent's health, not their age. Under the gov.uk guidance on VAT relief for disabled people, someone qualifies if they have a physical or mental impairment that affects everyday activities, a condition treated as chronic sickness such as diabetes, or a terminal illness. Being older without a disability does not count. Where your parent qualifies, products designed or adapted for a disability come without VAT, and so do their fitting, repairs and spare parts. The supplier can tell you whether a particular bath board or lift qualifies.

The 5% rate is narrower. Under the gov.uk page on VAT on mobility aids for people over 60, it applies only when the product is supplied and installed in a private home, so a bath lift bought online and set up by the family does not qualify, and a care home is excluded. A relative, a council or a charity can order and pay for it on your parent's behalf. VAT relief on mobility aids explains the declarations step by step.

These are the publishers' figures for the market, not our prices, and they are before any VAT relief. For views on particular models, use the independent sources in the next section rather than a seller's own reviews. A powered lift needs a replacement battery at some point, so ask what that costs before you choose one.

If the council does offer a Disabled Facilities Grant for bigger work later, it is a separate route from the equipment loan, with its own means test, and it pays for building work rather than for aids like these.

The rules on cancelling are set out on gov.uk under door to door sales. We do not recommend particular makers or sellers. For independent views, Living Made Easy, run by the Disabled Living Foundation, lists bath lifts and other bathing equipment with impartial guidance, Which? publishes advice on later-life equipment and care, and the Research Institute for Disabled Consumers (RiDC) publishes consumer research on products for disabled and older people. The British Healthcare Trades Association code of practice sets the standards its member companies sign up to, so ask a seller whether they are a member.

A bath fits inside an ordinary morning or evening visit, booked on the days your parent bathes. PrimeCarers is an introductory service: you find and choose a self-employed carer and agree the visits with them. You can search for carers near you who help with washing and compare their rates. An hourly visit costs around £18 to £25 an hour on PrimeCarers, with our fee included, against £28 to £35 an hour through an agency.

Before a carer's profile appears in search results we check their identity and right to work, confirm they hold an enhanced DBS check (or PVG in Scotland, Access NI in Northern Ireland) issued within the last 2 years, and interview them online. We do not check qualifications, training or references, so ask the carer about their experience with personal care and with bath lifts; references and reviews on a profile are not verified by us. Visits booked through PrimeCarers are covered by the carer insurance policy we arrange, within its terms. Moving and handling, such as helping someone in and out of the bath, is covered only where the carer has been trained for it, so ask about that as well.

Bathing and toileting an elderly parent covers the practical side of helping with a wash, and when a parent refuses to wash is for the times the equipment is not the problem at all. Personal care explains what a carer can help with more widely.