The short answer
- The bill is the weekly rate times the weeks£1,050 to £1,400 a week, typically £1,120. PrimeCarers adds no charge for a short stay.
- Bank holidays are agreed separatelyThe contract charges a bank holiday at one and a half times the normal rate and Christmas Day at twice it. Agree in writing what those days add to a weekly rate.
- Food and driving sit outside the rateThe carer eats from the household shop. Driving is charged only if you agreed it in advance, in writing.
- Nights alone can cost less for a fortnightFourteen sleeping nights come to £1,820 to £2,030, against £2,100 to £2,800 for a carer living in. The days are then uncovered.
Figures are what families pay carers on PrimeCarers, with our fee included; each carer sets their own rate. An agency typically charges £1,120 to £1,750 a week.
One to six weeks
What one, two, four and six weeks of live-in care come to
A live-in carer is priced by the week, so the bill for a fixed stay is the weekly rate multiplied by the number of weeks. The ladder below does that sum for five common lengths of stay.
- One week7 days, 168 hours£1,050 to £1,400
Typically £1,120. An agency range for the same period is £1,120 to £1,750.
- A fortnight14 days£2,100 to £2,800
Typically £2,240. An agency range for the same period is £2,240 to £3,500.
- Four weeks28 days£4,200 to £5,600
Typically £4,480. An agency range for the same period is £4,480 to £7,000.
- A calendar monthAbout 4 weeks and 2 days£4,550 to £6,067
Typically £4,853. An agency range for the same period is £4,853 to £7,583.
- Six weeks42 days£6,300 to £8,400
Typically £6,720. An agency range for the same period is £6,720 to £10,500.
£1,050 to £1,400 a week is the range families pay carers on PrimeCarers, with our fee included, and each carer sets their own rate. PrimeCarers adds nothing for a short stay. A calendar month is 52 weeks divided by 12. Bank holidays, the carer’s food and anything agreed on top are not included.
A carer living in stays in your relative's home day and night and takes a daily break, and how live-in care works explains the arrangement in full. Each carer on PrimeCarers sets their own weekly rate and shows it on their profile, so the figure you pay depends on the carer you choose. Families pay from £1,050 to £1,400 a week with our fee included, and the middle of that range is £1,120. Where care is complex, such as full hoisting or epilepsy management, rates start from £1,260 a week.
PrimeCarers adds nothing because a stay is short, so at a carer's weekly rate two weeks cost twice one week and four weeks cost four times. Each carer sets their own rate, so if the stay is short, check in your first message that the weekly rate on their profile applies to it. There is no minimum stay set by PrimeCarers. A carer may turn other work down to hold your dates, so if you need only a few days, say so at the start.
A month is the length people find hardest to price, because a calendar month is a little over four weeks. Thirty days is four weeks and two days, and thirty-one is four weeks and three. Those extra days are worth agreeing with the carer at the start, which the estimator below helps with.
If you are planning the stay as a whole and want to know what kinds of fixed-period placement there are, from a trial week to cover after an operation, temporary live-in care covers that. The cost of live-in care has the ongoing weekly and annual figures.
Your own dates
Put in your dates to see the total and any bank holidays
Choose the day the carer arrives and the day they leave. You will see how many weeks and days that is, what it comes to at the published range, and which bank holidays fall inside it.
Choose the day the carer arrives and the day they leave.
Bank holidays from GOV.UK, 2026 to 2028. The range is what families pay carers on PrimeCarers, and each carer sets their own rate. Food, driving and anything else you agree on top are not included.
Book cover for a break
Tell us when you need cover, what kind and where, and we will set your account up as you go.
The estimate counts from the day the carer arrives to the day they leave, in weeks of seven days. Whole weeks are priced at the weekly range. Any days left over are shown separately, because how a part week is charged is something you agree with the carer: the contract does not divide a weekly rate into days.
The same goes for bank holidays. The contract between you and the carer charges a bank holiday at one and a half times the carer's normal rate and Christmas Day at twice it. Because live-in care is agreed by the week, the contract does not say what one day of that week is worth, so the estimator names each bank holiday in your dates and leaves the figure for you and the carer to settle. Do it before the carer arrives and write it down. For stays over the festive period, care over Christmas and bank holidays covers what else to arrange.
When you are ready to look for someone, the card under the estimator opens a few short questions, starting with your dates, and sets up your account as you go.
Outside the weekly rate
What sits outside the weekly rate
The weekly rate covers the carer's time and our fee. A few things can be added to it, and each one has a condition attached. None of them is charged automatically.
The carer's food
£5 to £10 a day, on the household shop
Bank holidays and Christmas Day
One and a half times, and twice
Driving in the carer’s own car
Only if agreed in writing, often 55p a mile
Outings and tickets
At cost, agreed beforehand
The urgent care finder fee
£40, only on the urgent route
A managed service, if you choose one
5% or 10% on top, optional
Food is the one most families forget. A live-in carer eats with the household, so for a fortnight you are buying for one more person, and our pricing page budgets £5 to £10 a day a day for it. Do live-in carers buy their own food? sets out how the carer's meals and the shopping work.
Driving is the other one to settle early. If the carer will take your relative to appointments in their own car, agree the rate in writing before the stay begins. Do live-in carers get paid for travel? sets out how driving and travel costs are agreed.
Against nights or a care home
A fortnight of live-in care against nights, visits or a care home
A carer living in is not the only way to cover two weeks. Depending on where the hard part of the day falls, nights alone or daytime visits may be enough, and a care home is the other option families weigh up.
- 14 sleeping nightsNobody there in the day£1,820 to £2,030
- Visits, 3 hours a dayNobody there at night£756 to £1,050
- Visits, 6 hours a dayNobody there at night£1,512 to £2,100
- A live-in carer, two weeksDay and night, on PrimeCarers£2,100 to £2,800
- A care home, two weeksStandard residential averageAbout £2,320
- An agency live-in carerTwo weeks, agency range£2,240 to £3,500
Nights, visits and live-in care are what families pay carers on PrimeCarers, with our fee included: sleeping nights at £130 to £145, visits at £18 to £25 an hour. The care home figure is a standard residential week of about £1,160, shown for comparison and not our price. The agency figure is a typical agency range.
Fourteen sleeping nights cost £1,820 to £2,030, which is less than two weeks of live-in care. That suits somebody who manages their own days but is unsafe or anxious at night, for instance in the first weeks home after a stay in hospital. Nobody is there in the day unless you add visits. Overnight care explains how sleeping and waking nights work, and short-term night care after hospital covers a few weeks of nights on their own.
Daytime visits work the other way round. Three hours of visits a day for a fortnight come to £756 to £1,050, and six hours a day to £1,512 to £2,100, with nobody there at night. Once the visits plus a few nights come close to the live-in figure, price a carer living in as well, because they cover the nights too. When live-in care becomes cheaper than hourly visits works out where that point falls.
A care home stay means your relative leaves home for the fortnight. The figure above is a standard residential week, and the price a care home asks for a short respite stay can be higher. What respite care costs has the prices care homes publish for a respite week, alongside visits and nights at home.
Help paying for a break
What the council may pay towards a carer's break
If the fortnight is so that the person who normally does the caring can rest or go away, the council may help pay for it. It will only fund a break for people it has assessed, so the assessments come first.
- 1
Ask for a carer's assessment for yourself
Free, from the councilAny carer over 18 can ask adult social services for a carer's assessment, and the NHS lists someone taking over the caring so you can take a break among the things it might recommend. What a carer's assessment is explains how to ask. - 2
Ask for a needs assessment for your relative
At the same timeThe NHS says councils only fund respite for people they have assessed as needing it, so the person you look after should have a care needs assessment too. You can ask for both to be done together. - 3
There may be a financial assessment
If the council will helpThe NHS says you might need a financial assessment, a means test, before the council helps with costs, so you or your relative may be asked to pay towards the break. - 4
Ask for the money as a direct payment
So you choose the carerIf the council agrees to fund a break, ask whether it can be paid as a direct payment, which can be used to pay a carer you choose. How direct payments work sets out the rules.
If you claim Carer's Allowance, a break does not have to stop it. Age UK says you can keep receiving it for up to four weeks in any six months while you have a break from caring, and recommends checking your own circumstances with the Carer's Allowance Unit because the rules are complicated.
How to fund respite goes through every route in more detail, including charities and what to say when a council refuses. The NHS page on carers' breaks lists the kinds of respite the council can arrange.
Agreeing it in writing
What to agree with the carer before the first day
A fixed stay has a start, an end and a price, and each one is easier to settle before the carer arrives than halfway through. Write these down and send them to the carer in a message you both keep.
Before the carer arrives, agree
0 of 9 ticked
The dates and the price
Anything on top
If plans change
Before a carer appears in a search on PrimeCarers, we check their ID and right to work, see an enhanced DBS check (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. References and reviews appear on a carer's profile unverified, so ask the carer directly about their experience with the care your relative needs. Insurance is separate from the checks: for visits booked through PrimeCarers, we arrange cover where the carer does not have their own, subject to the policy terms.
If the dates are close and you would rather somebody rang round for you, emergency live-in care explains how quickly a carer can start and how the urgent care finder works. If you would like help with scheduling or reviews over a longer stay, the managed service sets out what each option adds. For care that will carry on after this stay, the live-in care guide covers the rest.
Questions
Questions families ask about the cost of a short live-in stay
On PrimeCarers, £1,050 to £1,400 with our fee included, typically £1,120. Each carer sets their own rate and shows it on their profile. The carer's food goes on the household shop, and any bank holiday in the week is agreed separately. A traditional agency typically charges £1,120 to £1,750 for the same week.
£2,100 to £2,800 on PrimeCarers, typically £2,240. A fortnight is two weeks at the carer's weekly rate. Put in your own dates to see the total and any bank holidays inside them.
For a live-in carer at home on PrimeCarers, £1,050 to £1,400, and your relative stays in their own home with the same person there day and night. A standard residential care home week is about £1,160, and homes can charge more for a short respite stay. What respite care costs compares visits, nights and care home stays.
Not from PrimeCarers, which adds nothing for a short booking. Each carer sets their own weekly rate, so ask in your first message whether theirs is the same for a short stay. What changes the bill is the number of weeks, any bank holidays, and anything you agree on top, such as driving.
The contract charges a bank holiday at one and a half times the carer's normal rate and Christmas Day at twice it. It does not say how a weekly rate divides into days, so agree with the carer in writing what each bank holiday in your dates adds before the stay begins.
A client who cancels booked visits normally pays for them in full, but an unplanned hospital admission is one of the exceptions, along with illness and any other reason the carer agrees to. Tell the carer as soon as you know. When your parent goes into hospital covers what happens to a placement already running.