The short answer
- Feedback works best small, regular and specificA calm word about one thing, given the same week it happened, does more than a bigger conversation saved up for later.
- A private carer runs their own small businessThey are self-employed, not staff and not employed by PrimeCarers. You can agree what outcome matters; the method, and their own rest and time off, stay theirs to decide.
- The basics of respect keep a good carer longerBeing treated as a professional, having the practical things ready, and being included when it suits everyone all make a carer more likely to stay.
- A tired carer is a risk to the care itselfRespecting agreed hours and taking a mention of stress seriously protects your relative as much as it protects the carer.
PrimeCarers is an introductory service. It does not employ or manage carers, so the working relationship this page describes is between your family and the self-employed carer you have chosen.
Everyday feedback
Giving feedback that keeps a good arrangement good
Most of what keeps a carer working well with your family is not one big decision. It is small, regular feedback, given calmly and specifically, before a habit sets in either direction.
What tends to land
- Raise it promptly, ideally the same week, and somewhere private
- Say what is going well first, then the one thing you would like to see change
- Name a specific visit or task rather than a general impression
- Ask their view before assuming yours is the only one
- Write down what you agree, so the same thing does not need saying twice
What tends to backfire
- Saving up several small things and raising them all at once
- Correcting a carer in front of your relative
- Waiting weeks, so a small point lands as an accusation
- Assuming a task done differently was carelessness rather than judgement
- Only getting in touch when something has gone wrong, so a carer only hears from you when they are in trouble
If the same thing keeps happening after a conversation like this, it is often because it was never written down in the first place. Building a care plan with your carer is where to put it, so it does not rely on either of you remembering it the same way. If a conversation like this has not worked, or what happened is more serious than a habit worth adjusting, steps to take when problems arise covers what to do next.
Respect and roles
Respecting the boundaries of someone who works for themselves
A private carer is not on your household staff, and PrimeCarers does not employ them either. They are running their own small business, one client's visits at a time, and that changes what is reasonable to ask of them day to day.
Under the PrimeCarers contract, a carer is a self-employed contractor, and nothing in it creates an employment relationship between the carer and your family. That is not only paperwork. It changes who decides what once care is under way.
Rest breaks
Yours to decide
Agreeing a time for a break if it needs to fit around your relative’s day
Theirs to decide
How long it is and what they do with it. The contract sets rest breaks as the carer’s own to manage, not something the client directs.
Hours and schedule
Yours to decide
Confirming the days and times you need covered
Theirs to decide
Turning down a request that clashes with another client or their own plans
How a task gets done
Yours to decide
Saying what outcome matters, such as a warm meal eaten with company
Theirs to decide
The method: which order, which words, how they talk your relative through it
Time off
Yours to decide
Being told with as much notice as possible
Theirs to decide
Whether to take it at all. A self-employed carer is not entitled to paid holiday and does not need your approval to be unavailable
Ending the arrangement
Yours to decide
Giving the notice set out in your contract
Theirs to decide
The same right, in the other direction
Checked against the PrimeCarers client and carer contract, and gov.uk on self-employment, 5 September 2026.
Working hours, personal space and house rules are worth agreeing plainly before the first visit rather than assumed on the day; preparing for your carer's first day and building a care plan with your carer both cover setting this out clearly. Where you and a carer disagree about how, rather than whether, something should be done, managing private carers goes further into where that line sits.
A good working environment
Creating a home a carer wants to keep coming back to
A carer who feels respected and equipped for the job is more likely to stay with your family for the long run, and continuity is worth more to your relative than almost anything else about the arrangement.
Treat them as a professional, not staff
Have the practical things ready
Include them when it fits, never as an obligation
Help more than one carer work as a team
Carer wellbeing
Why supporting your carer protects the care your relative gets too
A tired, overstretched carer is more likely to miss something, and more likely to stop working with your family altogether. Supporting their wellbeing is not a favour to them alone.
Worth remembering, day to day
0 of 5 ticked
Hours and time off
Support
None of this replaces watching how the arrangement is going day to day. Building a good relationship with your private carer covers the signs that something has changed and is worth a conversation, and if a change is bigger than a conversation can fix, how many visits a week does my parent need helps work out whether the hours themselves need to change rather than just how they are used.
Getting started
From this page to a working relationship that lasts
Four steps, and most of the groundwork happens before the first visit rather than after.
- 1
Search carers near you
FreeEvery profile shows a carer's rate, experience and reviews, alongside confirmation that their identity, right to work and enhanced DBS have already been checked and their online interview completed. - 2
Write the plan together
Before the first visitAgree the routine, the hours, and how you will each raise something that needs to change. A written plan is what a specific piece of feedback can point back to later. - 3
Agree how feedback and time off will work
Week 1A short conversation about how you will each raise a concern, and what happens if the carer needs time off, settles more than either of you will think to ask about later. - 4
Keep talking, and adjust as things change
OngoingA short regular check-in catches most small problems before they need anything more than a conversation.
Questions
Questions families ask about working with a private carer
Little and often works better than saving it up. A short word about something specific, given the same week it happened, is easier for a carer to act on than a longer conversation raised weeks later covering several things at once. Building a good relationship with your private carer covers the everyday side of this alongside feedback.
No. A self-employed carer is not covered by the statutory paid holiday or sick pay that applies to employees and workers under UK employment law, because those rights only apply to employees and workers, not to somebody who is self-employed. This is part of why a carer's time off is theirs to decide, not something for a client to approve.
You can say what outcome you would like, such as a meal eaten with company rather than rushed, but a self-employed carer keeps the final say over the method, in the same way any self-employed contractor would. Managing private carers goes further into where that line sits.
PrimeCarers does not arrange cover automatically, since it introduces carers rather than managing rotas. Ask your carer for as much notice as possible, and search for a second carer in advance if you think you will need one regularly, rather than only once a gap appears.
Changing what happens during a visit, or adding or dropping a task, is a conversation between you and the carer, not a new contract. Ending the arrangement altogether needs the notice set out in the PrimeCarers contract: 48 hours for hourly care, and 7 days for live-in care once the carer has worked 168 hours.
Only if it suits everyone, and it should stay an invitation rather than an expectation on either side. Some families and carers build a warm, informal relationship over time; others keep things professional throughout, and both are perfectly normal.
If a calm, specific conversation has not worked, or what happened is more serious than a habit worth adjusting, steps to take when problems arise covers mediation, ending the arrangement, and what each involves.