Temporary live-in care

A live-in carer stays in your relative's home and is there through the day and the night, rather than visiting for set hours. Arranging one for a fixed period works the same way as for longer: you agree the dates, the tasks and the rate with the carer, and the contract you both sign covers those dates. PrimeCarers introduces you to self-employed carers and the arrangement is between you and the carer, so the length is whatever the two of you agree.

There is no minimum stay. The client contract sets a notice period rather than a minimum term, which the notice section below sets out. A carer gives up other work to hold your dates, so some carers prefer a week or more, and if you need only a few days it is worth saying so in your first message.

The booking itself is straightforward. The language around it can be confusing, because you will be handed several different words for the same fortnight, and they describe the reason for the stay rather than a different service.

None of these change what you are buying or what it costs. They change who you ask for help paying: how to fund live-in care, and for a break, how to fund respite.

The length matters, because a carer is giving up other work and plans around the dates you give them. If you are not sure how long you need, book the period you are confident about and ask the carer early whether they could stay on. Where the stay is cover for an MS relapse, what to ask for and how long it tends to be needed covers the fortnight in front of you.

Four of the six have their own sections further down: coming home from hospital and recovery after an operation, while the family carer is away and Christmas. The other two are below.

A trial before deciding on anything longerSection titled A%20trial%20before%20deciding%20on%20anything%20longer

A week or two of live-in care is the plainest way to find out whether it suits your relative. You learn whether they accept somebody in the house, whether the spare room and the bathroom work for two people, and whether their day settles once someone is there to help with it. If it does not suit them, the notice period in the first week is 48 hours, so nobody is locked in.

A trial is also worth setting against the other way families test the water, which is a short stay in a care home. Trial stays and coming home again explains how a care home trial works and what happens if your relative wants to come home, and is live-in care cheaper than a care home? compares the weekly figures.

When somebody is seriously ill and wants to stay at homeSection titled When%20somebody%20is%20seriously%20ill%20and%20wants%20to%20stay%20at%20home

When somebody is seriously ill and wants to stay at home, a carer living in means one steady person in the house rather than a different visitor each time. The NHS team, the district nurses and the GP do the nursing and leave again. A live-in carer is there for everything in between, day and night, and calls the nurses when something changes.

This kind of placement can be agreed a week at a time rather than with a fixed end date, and the same notice period applies. Live-in care at the end of life sets out what the carer covers and what stays with the nursing team, and fast-track continuing healthcare explains when the NHS pays for the care instead.

Coming home from hospital: visits or a carer living inSection titled Coming%20home%20from%20hospital%3A%20visits%20or%20a%20carer%20living%20in

The pressure here is the discharge date, which can arrive with a day or two of warning. The first question families ask is whether visits will do or whether somebody needs to live in. Visits suit somebody who can manage the stretches between them and sleeps through the night. A carer living in suits somebody who needs help at unpredictable times, who gets up in the night, or who is not safe on their own for a few hours yet. If the nights are the only hard part, short-term night care after hospital covers booking nights on their own.

Some of the first weeks may be paid for by somebody else. The NHS describes intermediate care, also called reablement, as free short-term care to help somebody recover, provided for as long as they need it and usually for a maximum of 6 weeks. Ask the discharge team what it will cover and when, so you know which hours a live-in carer would need to fill.

Recovery after an operationSection titled Recovery%20after%20an%20operation

After a planned operation you have more warning, which means you can book the carer before the admission and agree a start date that lines up with the discharge. The weeks below are the shape the help tends to follow, though your relative's surgeon and physiotherapist will say what applies to them.

What to arrange before discharge day lists the questions that get missed on the ward, and reablement: the free six weeks explains why the free support stops on a date. For one operation week by week, read recovery at home after a hip replacement, after a knee replacement or after heart surgery. Post-operative rehabilitation and convalescent care covers the weeks after that, the post-operative care pillar holds the rest, and funding care after a hospital stay sets out what is free.

Respite at home has one advantage over a respite bed in a care home: nothing about your relative's day changes except who is doing it. The bedroom, the chair and the cat stay where they are, which matters if your relative has dementia or is unsteady in an unfamiliar room. Holiday cover while you are away compares a live-in carer with daily visits for a week away, and respite at home or in a care home sets the two settings side by side.

If the break is not planned, because the family carer has been taken ill or admitted to hospital, emergency respite covers what to do this week. What is respite care? covers the routes the council can fund.

What decides whether the fortnight goes well is the handover. A family carer holds hundreds of small things nobody has written down, and the carer arriving has an afternoon to learn them.

Planning respite for the first time walks through it in order, and the respite care pillar has the funding and the alternatives. If the break is because you are worn out rather than going away, say so. A carer who knows you are upstairs asleep will run the day differently.

Book it earlier than feels necessary, because carers who are willing to work over Christmas plan their own diaries ahead like everyone else. Holiday cover while you are away covers the wider question, and when your carer is ill or on holiday covers a gap in an arrangement you already have.

The other thing to settle early is what the days themselves cost. The contract between you and the carer charges bank holidays at one and a half times the carer's normal rate and Christmas Day at twice it. The contract sets no uplift for weekends.

Live-in care is usually agreed as a weekly rate, and the contract sets the multiple rather than how a week is divided into days. So agree with the carer, in writing and before they arrive, what those days come to. It is far easier to settle in November than on Boxing Day. Weekend, evening and bank holiday rates explains the same uplifts for hourly visits.

If you would rather your relative came with you, can I take a live-in carer on holiday with me? covers taking a carer away.

For live-in care, either side can end the arrangement on 48 hours' notice until the carer has been present for 168 hours in total, which is a week. After that, the notice period moves to 7 days. Both apply only to visits already agreed, so neither side is committed to offering or accepting work beyond the notice period.

That threshold suits a temporary booking. A placement running for a week or less can be ended on 48 hours' notice throughout, and a four to six week stay needs a week's notice once it is under way. Agree the end date when you book, then confirm it in writing a week or so before. The two of you can agree a different notice period, but the contract says it must be in writing and only takes effect a week after you agree it. Ending live-in care covers the last few days.

1. 1

   Set the exact dates and what is needed

   Before you search

   The first day, the planned last day and the tasks involved, from personal care to medication to housework. This is the brief a carer quotes their rate against, and the care brief at the top of this page asks for the same dates.
2. 2

   Search and interview carers who are free for those dates

   This week

   Message the ones who can commit to the whole period. Before a carer appears in search, PrimeCarers has checked their ID and right to work, seen an enhanced DBS check (PVG in Scotland, Access NI in Northern Ireland) issued within the last 2 years, and held an online interview with them. We do not check qualifications, training or references, so ask about them directly: references and reviews appear on a carer's profile unverified. For visits booked through PrimeCarers, we arrange insurance cover where the carer does not have their own, subject to the policy terms. What qualities to look for and how to interview a live-in carer go further.
3. 3

   Put the dates, the rate and the notice period in writing

   Before day one

   Confirm the dates, the rate, anything chargeable on top such as driving, and any bank holidays inside the period. This is what the notice period is measured against.
4. 4

   Give the carer a proper handover

   Day one

   An afternoon with the person who normally does the caring is worth more than any document, but write the document too. The handover list above works for a recovery or a Christmas booking as much as for a break.
5. 5

   Plan how the placement will end

   Before it ends

   Agree who holds keys, what happens to medication left in the house, and who the carer hands over to. If your relative needs longer, ask the carer whether they can stay on before you start a new search.

How quickly a temporary live-in carer can startSection titled How%20quickly%20a%20temporary%20live-in%20carer%20can%20start

Nobody can promise you a start date, because carers on PrimeCarers are self-employed and set their own availability. How soon somebody moves in depends on who replies, whether they are free for your whole period, and how far they have to travel. The pool of carers free at three days' notice is smaller than the pool free in six weeks, so search anyway, message more carers than you think you need to, and say in the first message that the dates are fixed and close.

Emergency live-in care: how quickly somebody can start goes through what to do today, in order, and how to cover the nights until a carer arrives. If you would rather not ring round yourself, the urgent care finder takes that first stage off you. Asking is free, and there is a one-off £40 fee only if you go ahead with a carer it found.

How do I hire a live-in carer? covers the wider search, and what does a live-in carer need? sets out what the house has to provide, the same for a fortnight as for a year.

Carers on PrimeCarers charge £1,050 to £1,400 a week for live-in care, with our fee included, and there is no separate short-stay rate. A traditional agency typically charges £1,120 to £1,750 a week for the same cover. If the days are manageable and only the nights are hard, nights alone can cost less. The table sets one fortnight three ways.

Three things sit outside the weekly rate: the bank holiday uplift above, the carer's food, which goes on the weekly shop because they eat with the household, and driving your relative in the carer's own car, chargeable only where you agreed it in advance and in writing.

The cost of live-in care has the full breakdown, and do live-in carers get paid for travel? sets out how driving is agreed. If the fortnight is a break for you, check how to fund respite before you pay for all of it yourself.