The short answer
- 48 hours in the first week, then 7 daysThe longer notice starts once the carer has been present for 168 hours, a full week of a placement. It runs both ways.
- Days you cancel are still payableWhere you end the arrangement, the days inside the notice are charged in full, apart from unplanned hospitalisation, illness, or another reason the carer agrees to.
- Confirm the care home place before you give noticeWaiting lists and financial assessments do not run to a notice period's timetable, and a gap between the two leaves nobody in the house.
- The carer is self-employed, and the house is where they liveThere is no redundancy or notice pay beyond the contract, and the ending needs a moving-out time, not only a last day of care.
Notice periods and charges here come from the contract between clients and carers on PrimeCarers, checked 14 September 2026. PrimeCarers is an introductory service, not a care agency, and holds no CQC registration, so it does not set these terms or decide disputes.
The notice
How much notice a live-in arrangement needs
A live-in carer is self-employed, so ending the arrangement is a contract coming to an end rather than somebody being let go. The contract your family and the carer agreed to sets the notice, and it also decides what you pay while it runs.
168 hours
The point at which live-in notice changes. Until the carer has been present for 168 hours, a full week of a placement, either side can end it on 48 hours. After that, either side gives 7 days.
The client and carer contract on PrimeCarers, under Notices, checked 14 September 2026.
Notice has to be in writing. An email, a WhatsApp message or the chat on the platform all count, and two lines are enough: that you are giving notice, and the date you want the placement to finish. Telephoning the carer first is kinder than a message arriving out of nowhere, and it lets them ask what went wrong.
Notice does not apply where somebody is at risk. The contract allows the arrangement to end immediately for safety or serious misconduct, and for live-in care it says the carer being in the house depends on your relative continuing to consent to it. A carer asked to leave on those grounds goes within a practicable period, taking account of transport and their own safety. Notice periods for a private carer covers the same-day ending and the safeguarding calls to make, and the rules themselves sit in the client and carer contract. Live-in care is the wider picture if you are still weighing up the decision.
Which ending is this
Four situations that end a live-in arrangement
Almost every family asking about this is in one of four situations, and what to do first differs in each. Find the one that matches your week, then read down that card.
Care at home is no longer enough
- What is happening
- Your relative needs nursing, lifting equipment or supervision that one carer in a house cannot provide safely, and a residential or nursing home is being considered.
- The notice
- The full notice applies: 48 hours while the carer has been present for less than 168 hours, then 7 days.
- The first thing to do
- Ring your relative's council and ask adult social care for a new needs assessment before you give notice to anybody.
- What the care becomes
- Residential or nursing care, with a separate financial assessment and a new set of fees.
Live-in care is right, this carer is not
- What is happening
- The arrangement itself is working. The fit between your relative and this particular carer is not, or the carer wants to move on to other work.
- The notice
- The same notice applies, and it is worth asking the carer to work it so a replacement can overlap with them.
- The first thing to do
- Say what is not working before you decide. Some of it is fixable in one conversation, and a written routine fixes more of it than families expect.
- What the care becomes
- Live-in care with a different carer, ideally with a day or two of handover between the two of them.
The placement was always for a set time
- What is happening
- The carer was booked to cover a recovery after hospital, a family carer taking a break, or a few weeks while something else was arranged.
- The notice
- Confirm the agreed end date in writing anyway. The notice clause still applies if you want to finish earlier than the date you both agreed.
- The first thing to do
- Decide a fortnight out whether your relative still needs the same level of help, because extending is easier than restarting.
- What the care becomes
- Nothing, hourly visits, or overnight care a few nights a week, depending on what is left to cover.
Your relative has gone into hospital
- What is happening
- An admission has emptied the house, and nobody yet knows whether your relative is coming home in days or at all.
- The notice
- Unplanned hospitalisation is one of the three exceptions the contract makes to paying in full for days you cancel.
- The first thing to do
- Tell the carer the day it happens, and ask the ward for the likely discharge picture before you decide to end anything.
- What the care becomes
- The same arrangement paused and resumed, or an ending once the discharge plan is known.
The second card is the one families most often miss. Live-in care and the person delivering it are two separate decisions, and a placement that has gone wrong is not by itself a reason to give up on care at home. If the difficulty is the fit, say what is not working before you decide anything, then read how to interview live-in carers, because the first interview is usually where a poor fit began. If one carer alone cannot cover the week, live-in care rotas sets out how two carers share a placement instead. Where the ending is a hospital admission rather than a decision, when your parent goes into hospital covers pausing a placement and what happens to the carer's room and pay.
What you still pay
What you pay while the notice runs
The money worries families more than the conversation does, and the answer is in the contract rather than at anybody's discretion. Days that were booked and agreed are payable where the client ends them, with three exceptions.
What is charged during the notice
| What the contract says | What that means for you | |
|---|---|---|
| Days inside the notice that the carer works | Charged at the carer's agreed weekly rate, as any other week would be. | Working the notice buys time to arrange what comes next. |
| Days inside the notice you ask the carer not to work | Where the client cancels, the full cost is still payable. | You can ask a carer to finish earlier, and those days are still charged unless they agree otherwise. Some waive part of it, which is their decision alone. |
| Unplanned hospitalisation, or illness | Named as exceptions, alongside any other reason the carer agrees to. | Tell the carer the day it happens, in writing, so the booking is corrected before an invoice is compiled. |
| Bank holidays and Christmas Day inside the notice | A bank holiday is charged at one and a half times the carer's normal rate, and Christmas Day at twice. | Worth checking before you pick a last day, because notice across Easter or Christmas costs more. |
| Travel, and out of pocket expenses | Travel is not charged unless expressly agreed in advance and in writing. Other expenses are reimbursed where agreed in advance and receipted. | If you agreed to cover a carer's journey home, that agreement needed writing down at the time. |
| What PrimeCarers charges to end it | Nothing. PrimeCarers is not a party to the contract and does not set or enforce the terms between a client and a carer. | Our fee is already inside the weekly rate you have been paying. |
Days inside the notice that the carer works
- What the contract says
- Charged at the carer's agreed weekly rate, as any other week would be.
- What that means for you
- Working the notice buys time to arrange what comes next.
Days inside the notice you ask the carer not to work
- What the contract says
- Where the client cancels, the full cost is still payable.
- What that means for you
- You can ask a carer to finish earlier, and those days are still charged unless they agree otherwise. Some waive part of it, which is their decision alone.
Unplanned hospitalisation, or illness
- What the contract says
- Named as exceptions, alongside any other reason the carer agrees to.
- What that means for you
- Tell the carer the day it happens, in writing, so the booking is corrected before an invoice is compiled.
Bank holidays and Christmas Day inside the notice
- What the contract says
- A bank holiday is charged at one and a half times the carer's normal rate, and Christmas Day at twice.
- What that means for you
- Worth checking before you pick a last day, because notice across Easter or Christmas costs more.
Travel, and out of pocket expenses
- What the contract says
- Travel is not charged unless expressly agreed in advance and in writing. Other expenses are reimbursed where agreed in advance and receipted.
- What that means for you
- If you agreed to cover a carer's journey home, that agreement needed writing down at the time.
What PrimeCarers charges to end it
- What the contract says
- Nothing. PrimeCarers is not a party to the contract and does not set or enforce the terms between a client and a carer.
- What that means for you
- Our fee is already inside the weekly rate you have been paying.
From the client and carer contract on PrimeCarers, under Notices, Charges and Expenses, checked 14 September 2026. Invoices are compiled automatically from the bookings on the platform, and client and carer are jointly responsible for checking those are right before one is issued.
Carers on PrimeCarers charge £1,050 to £1,400 for a live-in week with our fee included, about £160 a day at the middle of that range. A 7 day notice is therefore close to one more week of care, and it is money that buys a handover. The cost of live-in care breaks down what a week covers, and is live-in care cheaper than a care home? is the comparison to read if residential care is next.
Moving to a care home
If the next step is a care home, the order matters
A move into residential or nursing care has its own timetable, and it rarely lines up with a week of notice. Doing these five things in order is what stops a family paying for two arrangements at once, or having neither in place.
- 1
Ask the council for a new needs assessment
First, before anything elseRing adult social care at your relative's council and say their needs have changed. The assessment is free and does not depend on savings, and a care home, a funding decision and a discharge team will all ask for it. If nursing is what has changed, ask about NHS Continuing Healthcare too. - 2
Look at homes, and check them yourself
While the assessment is arrangedThe Care Quality Commission registers and rates care homes in England and publishes an inspection report for each one. Visit at least two, and ask what the weekly fee includes and what is charged on top. - 3
Get the money settled in writing
Before you accept a roomA financial assessment decides what the council pays towards a permanent place. Ask about the 12 week property disregard, which ignores the value of your relative's home for the first 12 weeks of a permanent stay, and about a deferred payment agreement if the house may have to be sold. - 4
Give notice once the room is confirmed
Usually the last stepWait for an admission date in writing, then count back 7 days and give the carer notice, so the placement ends on or just after the day your relative moves. An overlap of a day or two removes the risk of a gap. - 5
Tell the DWP and the council what has changed
The week of the moveAttendance Allowance usually stops if your relative lives in a care home and the council pays for their care, and it continues where the family pays the fees. Anyone claiming Carer’s Allowance has to report that the person they care for has gone into a home.
The Care Quality Commission's directory of care homes in England carries each home's rating and inspection report. How care homes work covers fees, and nursing home or care home explains which your relative may be assessed for. Live-in care or a nursing home is worth reading before the decision is final, because night-time needs in particular can be met at home. If money is the reason, local authority funding for care at home sets out the means test and Attendance Allowance covers what happens to that claim.
What happens to the carer
What ending the arrangement means for the carer
A live-in carer is self-employed and has been living in your relative's home, often a long way from their own. Ending the arrangement ends both their income from this placement and where they have been sleeping.
There is no redundancy or notice pay
The carer is self-employed
They need a moving-out time, not just a last day
Agree it early in the notice
Notice is how they find the next placement
Live-in work is booked in weeks
A review is worth more to them than a reference
Five minutes at the end
Some practical points only come up with live-in care. The carer's belongings and their own food, if they bought it, need collecting; the room needs handing back in a state that suits both of you; a key or a door code has to come back or be changed. All of it goes better as a short conversation early in the notice than a rush on the last morning. The final invoice is compiled from the bookings on the platform, so check those match the days worked before it is issued. What are live-in carers entitled to? covers breaks, food and the room during a placement, and how much is a live-in carer paid? explains what the weekly rate is made up of.
The final week
What to hand over, and who to tell
A live-in carer knows things about your relative that are written down nowhere: which side they prefer to be helped up from, what they will eat when they say they are not hungry, the neighbour who has a key. That knowledge leaves the house unless somebody asks for it in writing first.
Before the carer leaves
0 of 8 ticked
Get it out of their head and onto paper
The house
Who to tell
If this is a change of arrangement rather than a stop, start looking for whoever comes next on the day notice is given. You can search for carers near you and compare their rates free, and message the ones who could start on your date. An hour with the old carer and the new one in the house together is the easiest handover there is, and worth paying an extra day for. If what is left to cover is smaller than a full placement, alternatives to live-in care sets out hourly visits and overnight care, and respite care is the page to read if the family is taking the care back on.
Questions
Questions families ask about ending live-in care
For live-in care arranged through PrimeCarers, 48 hours while the carer has been present for less than 168 hours, and 7 days once they have been in the house a full week. The same period applies whichever side is ending it. Notice has to be in writing, and both sides can agree a different period in writing, which takes effect a week later for live-in care.
Yes, where you are the one ending it. Days that were booked and agreed are payable in full if the client cancels them, and the contract makes three exceptions: unplanned hospitalisation, illness, or another reason the carer agrees to. A carer can choose to waive part or all of it, and that is their decision rather than something PrimeCarers decides. PrimeCarers charges nothing itself for ending an arrangement.
Yes, where there is a safety concern or serious misconduct. The notice period does not apply then, and the contract says a carer being in the home depends on your relative continuing to consent to it, so you can ask them to leave. They are asked to go within a practicable period, taking account of transport and their own safety. Raise a safeguarding concern with your relative’s local council, and ring the police if you believe a crime has been committed.
Not from this arrangement. A carer on PrimeCarers is self-employed rather than employed by your family or by us, and government guidance on employment status is clear that employment law does not cover self-employed people in most cases. What they are owed is the notice period in the contract and payment for the days inside it.
Tell the carer the day it happens. Unplanned hospitalisation is one of the exceptions the contract makes to paying in full for days you cancel. Do not end the placement until the ward has given you some idea of the discharge plan, because a carer already in post who knows your relative is easier to keep than to replace.
Not as a live-in carer, because the home is responsible for the care it is registered to provide. Some families book a familiar carer for a few hours a week to visit, take their relative out or sit with them, agreed separately with the carer and with the home. Ask the home first, as visiting arrangements vary from one to another.
The arrangement ends at that point, and the carer is paid for the days worked up to it. Tell them as soon as you are able to, in writing as well as by phone, and check the bookings on the platform match the days worked before the final invoice is compiled. A carer who has been in the house for months will be affected too. Who is in the team sets out who else needs to be told.