Respite careCardiff
Respite care in Cardiff
If you look after someone and need a break, you can book a carer to cover you for a week, a fortnight or a single weekend. A fortnight of live-in cover in Cardiff is around £2,226, and you deal with the carer directly rather than through an agency. This page sets out what cover costs near you, who is available, and how it compares with a short stay in a care home.
27 carers within about 45 minutes of Cardiff, bookable for as long or as short as you need
A week of cover in Cardiff
- A live-in carer from PrimeCarersone carer in the house, day and night
- £1,113
One carer in the house for the whole week, and you choose them and meet them before they start. What the week covers is set out below.
The money
What a week of cover costs in Cardiff
A week of somebody there day and night, from what live-in carers within reach of Cardiff advertise. We cannot put a local agency or care home price beside it here: too few of either publish one near you for the comparison to mean anything.
A live-in carer from PrimeCarers
£1,113a week
one carer in the house, day and night
If you only need a few hours
Not every break is a fortnight away. If you are staying local and just need to sleep, see friends or get to your own appointments, visiting care is the cheaper shape: 14 hours a week at £20 an hour is £280 a week.
This is deliberately not in the table above. A few hours a day and a carer living in the house are different things, and putting them on one list would make the cheaper one look like the same purchase.
What else is near you
Who else provides respite in Cardiff
We keep a directory of home care agencies and care homes, including the prices they publish. None of them pay us to be listed and we earn nothing if you choose one.
Home care agencies in Cardiff
6 of the 40 agencies we track near you say they offer respite. That is not many to ring, and short notice cover is the first thing to go, so it is worth starting early.
40
agencies covering the area
6
say they offer respite
7
offer live-in cover
1
say they take council funding
The decision
Cover at home, or a short stay in a care home?
On price alone a short care home stay is cheaper in Cardiff, so it deserves a proper look. Here is what the fee does not cover.
A carer at home
A short stay in a care home
Who comes
You read profiles, talk to two or three, and pick one. You meet them before the first day.
The home allocates staff on shift. You will not know in advance who is on.
If there are two of you
One carer covers a couple at one price. About nine in ten carers will.
Two residents, two fees, and often not adjoining rooms.
What moves
Nothing. Same bed, same kitchen, same routine, same neighbours.
Packing, a move each way, and a fortnight of settling into a building they do not know.
How long you can book
A weekend upwards. You set the dates.
Most homes have a minimum stay, commonly one or two weeks.
What it includes
Personal care, meals, medication prompts, the house kept going, company.
Room, meals and staff on site. Extras such as hairdressing and outings are usually billed on top.
None of this makes a care home the wrong answer in Cardiff. Where someone needs several staff to move them safely, or nursing overnight, a home is the better place to be for a fortnight. It is the rest of the time that this table is about.
A couple pays once. Around nine in ten carers on PrimeCarers will look after two people, so one live-in carer covers a husband and wife at one price. A care home charges for two beds. Where both of them would otherwise move, care at home is close to half the cost.
Nothing has to move. A fortnight away means packing, settling into an unfamiliar building and coming home again. For someone with dementia the disruption is the risk, not the fee, and families often tell us the person who came back was not quite the person who went.
You can start smaller than you think. Respite does not have to be a fortnight. A weekend, or a few hours twice a week so you can sleep or see friends, is often what stops things reaching breaking point.
A care home is the better answer for some breaks, particularly when someone needs several staff to move them safely or nursing through the night. Care at home or a care home puts the two side by side, and respite at home or in a care home covers this choice on its own.
Who is available
Carers who could cover you in Cardiff
27 carers are based within about 45 minutes of Cardiff. You can see their rates and experience, and message them, before committing to anything.
27 private carers are based within about 45 minutes of Cardiff
Filter by what they charge, who drives, who does nights, and who speaks your language, then message the ones you like. Free, and nothing is booked until you say so.
See private carers for CardiffHow it works
Booking cover, step by step
- Tell us the dates and what is needed. A week, a fortnight, a weekend, or regular hours. It takes a few minutes and costs nothing.
- See who is free. You get carers within reach of you, with their photos, rates, experience and reviews. Everyone has an enhanced DBS, verified identity and right to work, and has been interviewed.
- Talk to a few. Message or call your shortlist through the site. Most families speak to two or three before deciding, and there is no charge for any of it.
- Agree the details in writing. Dates, hours, what the job involves, the rate and anything specific like medication or a night routine. Do this before you go, not on the doorstep.
- Book, and go. You pay through us so the carer is covered by insurance while they work, and you have a record of everything agreed.
Read next
Working out what you need
This page is about what a break costs and who is free. These answer the rest.
- Planning respite for the first timeWhat to sort out before you go, and how far ahead to start.
- How to fund respiteSix routes the cost can be met, including a carer’s assessment from the council.
- Emergency respiteWhen the break is not planned, and cover is needed in days rather than weeks.
- Respite when someone has dementiaWhy staying put usually matters more here than the fee does.
- Holiday coverBooking around school holidays and Christmas, which go first.
- When to consider respiteThe signs family carers tell us they ignored for too long.
Or read the respite care guide from the start, and what respite care covers if you are still working out what you need in Cardiff.
Questions
Questions families in Cardiff ask about respite
For a live-in carer who stays in the house, a week is typically £1,113 in Cardiff, so a fortnight is about £2,226. For daily visits instead, carers here advertise around £20 an hour, so two hours a day comes to roughly £280 a week. Nothing is charged until you book, and there is no ongoing contract.
Usually, yes, though we cannot give a local care home figure because too few homes near you publish one. Nationally a care home place is around £1,160 a week against £1,120 for a live-in carer at home. A care home also charges per person, so a couple pays twice where one live-in carer covers both.
Less than most people expect. You are talking to self-employed carers directly, so it depends on who happens to be free rather than on an agency's rota. Some carers can start within a few days. That said, school holidays and Christmas go first, so if your break is already in the diary it is worth lining someone up now. You can message carers and agree dates before committing to anything.
Possibly. If you look after someone regularly you are entitled to a carer's assessment from your council, which is separate from any assessment of the person you care for, and it can lead to funding for a break. It is worth asking even if the person you look after pays for their own care, because the assessment is about your needs, not theirs. How to fund respite care goes through the options.
Whatever you normally do, agreed in advance and written down before you go. That usually covers personal care, medication prompts, meals, keeping the house going and company, plus anything specific like a hoist or a night routine. A live-in carer sleeps in the house and is there overnight. If the person you look after is up several times a night, say so early, because that needs a waking night rather than a live-in arrangement and is priced differently.
Tell us and we will help you find someone else, without another introduction fee. Be aware that we are an introductory service rather than an agency: we do not employ the carers and we do not run a rota, so there is no bank of staff to send. In practice most families arranging a longer break line up a second carer they have spoken to, so there is somebody who already knows the situation.
Local figures on this page are read from carers' advertised rates and from the prices agencies and care homes publish themselves. Last checked September 2026.
Need cover in Cardiff?
See carers who could cover you in Cardiff, with their rates, experience and reviews, and talk to your favourites for free. Nothing is booked until you say so.