How much does respite care cost?

Read the bars as the cost of a full week of each kind of cover. Most breaks are shorter than that, and most mix two kinds: a weekend away with daytime visits and two sleeping nights, or a week where a carer comes in for the mornings and a friend does the afternoons. The pillar page on respite care covers how a break works from the beginning, and what is respite care? explains each kind of break in more detail.

Two things stand out. Hourly visits are the cheapest way to get a few hours to yourself, but they add up over a full day: eight hours of visits can cost more than a day of live-in care. And for a break of a week or longer, a live-in carer at home costs less than the published price of a respite week in a care home in every region where we have enough prices to say, with your relative staying in their own house and keeping their routine.

Hourly visits for a few hours or a daySection titled Hourly%20visits%20for%20a%20few%20hours%20or%20a%20day

Visits suit a break measured in hours: a morning at the hospital for your own appointment, an afternoon with friends, a regular day each week. Visits are usually an hour or more, and you set the days and times with the carer. For a full day, some carers advertise a lower rate for a single visit of six hours or more, from £18 an hour, so it is worth asking. The hourly cost of care at home shows what carers near you are charging.

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A sleeping night means the carer goes to bed in the house and can be woken if your relative needs them. A waking night means the carer stays awake all night, which suits somebody who is up several times or who should not be left. Nights are usually added to daytime visits, so a weekend away with four hours of visits each day and two sleeping nights costs £404 to £490. Waking night or sleeping night? explains how to choose, and overnight care so the family carer can sleep covers regular nights off.

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For a holiday or a longer rest, a live-in carer moves in for the whole stretch and covers the day and the night. On PrimeCarers that costs from £1,050 a week, typically £1,120, which is about £160 a day. The carer needs a bedroom of their own, and their food is something you agree with them beforehand. Live-in carers usually work in blocks of a week or more. Can I hire a live-in carer temporarily? explains how a short placement works, and holiday cover while you are away shows how families cover each part of the day.

Across England, the middle published price for a respite week is £1,500, or about £214 a day. Half of the published prices fall between £1,391 and £1,650. In the same data, a standard residential week has a middle price of £1,300, so a respite week is about 15% more. If you have seen a care home figure quoted for a permanent place, expect the respite price to be higher.

What these figures are, and what they are notSection titled What%20these%20figures%20are%2C%20and%20what%20they%20are%20not

These are the prices homes publish themselves. Some give a typical weekly fee, some give a range and some give only a starting price, so a home's quote for your relative can be higher once it has assessed their needs. They are not what a council pays when it arranges a place itself. A nursing home, where a registered nurse is on duty, costs more in the published prices: the middle nursing price is £1,590 a week.

Questions to ask the home before you bookSection titled Questions%20to%20ask%20the%20home%20before%20you%20book

Ask whether the weekly price includes everything or whether extras such as a hairdresser, chiropody, outings or newspapers are charged on top. Ask whether there is a shortest stay the home will take, how far ahead it books respite rooms, and what happens to the bill if your relative comes home early or has to go into hospital. Ask whether the home will assess your relative before the stay and whether that changes the price. Respite at home or in a care home compares the two kinds of break in more depth, and care home versus home care a week sets the permanent costs side by side.

At home, the hourly rate does not change because your relative has dementia. What changes is how many hours are needed, because somebody who cannot be left alone needs cover for the whole of the time you are away. A carer for the day plus a waking night can cost more than a live-in carer, and for a break of several days a live-in carer is usually the simpler and cheaper way to make sure somebody is always there.

In a care home, few homes in our data publish a separate price for dementia respite, so the figures above are for permanent places and a short stay is likely to cost more. Ask the home directly, and ask whether it can take your relative's routine and any night-time waking into account. Respite for dementia covers how to build up to a first break, and the cost of care for dementia sets out the longer-term costs.

The figures use the range carers on PrimeCarers charge, so a carer you choose may be at either end of it, and their exact rate is on their profile. If any of your days fall on a bank holiday, add half again for those days. When the estimate for visits comes close to the live-in figure, it is worth talking to a live-in carer as well: you get the nights covered for about the same money, and one person for the whole break instead of several. The care cost calculator works out ongoing care where your relative lives if the break turns into something more regular.

Start with the carer's assessment, because it costs nothing and opens the council routes. Under section 10 of the Care Act 2014 the council must assess you whatever it thinks of your finances or your relative's, and the statutory guidance is clear that where replacement care is provided, the carer should not be charged: any charge is made to the person receiving the care, and only after their own financial assessment. That is why your relative has to agree to the arrangement. What is a carer's assessment? explains what happens in one.

A council-funded stay in a care home is charged under its own rules. The statutory guidance describes somebody placed in a care home for up to eight weeks, for example for respite, as a short-term resident, and lets the council charge them as though the care were being given at home. A temporary resident, whose stay is unlikely to last more than 52 weeks, usually has their home left out of the means test because they are expected to return to it.

Benefits keep going during most breaks, with some limits on longer stays. Rather than repeat the rules here, how to fund respite sets out what happens to Attendance Allowance and Carer's Allowance during a break, how direct payments work for care home stays, and how long each route takes. For grants, see the Carers Trust guide to grants and discounts and the Turn2us grants search.

People sometimes ask whether respite is free for six weeks. What is free for up to six weeks is reablement and intermediate care after a hospital stay or a crisis, which is care to help your relative recover and get back on their feet. It is not a general six-week allowance for carers' breaks. Reablement: the free six weeks explains how it works, and funding care after a hospital stay covers what comes after it.

This page follows the rules in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own social care systems, with their own rules on charging, so read care funding in Scotland, care funding in Wales or care funding in Northern Ireland if your relative lives there.

Compare the two columns before you budget, because a residential figure is the one you are more likely to have seen quoted, and the respite price in the same area is usually higher. Each area page also shows what carers on PrimeCarers charge there, beside the local agencies and care homes. For an area not listed here, respite care by county has a page for every county, and you can search carers near you to see the rates they charge.