Live-in Care Worker FAQs

A full-time, live-in care job means living with a client in their home 24/7 for the duration of a rota which is most often a minimum of 2 weeks. You will enrich your client’s  life by providing dedicated one-to-one care. The care will vary from client to client, their circumstances and health conditions. Your placement will depend upon your level of experience and how closely you match individual client needs.

Yes! If you’ve never worked as a home carer before,  we provide a full in-house training package, regular contact and feedback from your care manager, together with regular refresher training sessions and 24-hour support.

Most of our clients are elderly and many are confused or in poor health, so you must be caring and have empathy with your client. Live-in care can be as challenging as it is rewarding so sometimes you need patience and understanding. A positive attitude will be important at all times. You’ll be a genuinely compassionate person; always dependable and someone with plenty of common sense.

Potentially. Some clients have their own car and like to have their live-in carer drive on their behalf. It’s essential that if you accept a booking where you are expected to drive, you’ll ensure that your driving license  is valid, up to date and that the client arranges the appropriate insurance cover for you.

As a live-in carer, you’ll live with a client 24 hours a day for the duration of your rota, and  work an average of eight to ten-hours (not necessarily consecutive ) a day, but you’ll need to be on hand to help the client if needed or in case of an emergency.

You’ll also always have a two-hour break (off the premises) every day. On average, most live-in carers will work between six and a half and seven days a week. A rota is usually a minimum of 2 weeks with the client, followed by two weeks off, but some live-in carers prefer longer rotas. We’ll discuss what suits you and your lifestyle when you apply.

As a live-in carer, you’ll be employed and paid directly by us. Our pay rates and terms and conditions are highly competitive  We benchmark our pay against our competitors to ensure we’re always paying in the top 25%. Your salary will be discussed at your interview and set out in writing in any job offer we make.

Generally speaking, a live-in home care salary will vary, depending on experience and the level of support a client requires and you will be paid a daily rate.

Live-in carers are paid by direct debit, and we deduct your taxes and national insurance contributions at source under Pay As You Earn (PAYE).

If you want to work weekends only as a carer, you may be more suited to our Visiting Care service. These may be shorter assignments and providing care for multiple clients.

Find out more about Visiting Care.

Please make you provide the following items for your live-in care interview:

• Proof of identification & eligibility to work in the UK
• Passport/s, EU identity card, or photographic driving licence
• Proof of eligibility to work in the UK (e.g. visa for non-EU passport holders)
• Proof of address in the UK (e.g. bank, credit card statement or utility bill less than 3 months old)
• UK Birth certificate (if applicable)
• National insurance number (e.g. card or job centre letter or payslip stating the number)
• Valid driving licence. For UK licences this is both your paper counterpart and the photocard. Alternatively, your foreign licence allowing you to drive in the UK (with your original International licence)
• Details of your Skills & Experience
• Your full CV covering an up to date full working history
• Documentation proof to support your application, for example, qualification certificates

After you have successfully completed a formal interview, and before you begin work as live-in home carer, we’ll need to follow up with your references. We often receive references back quicker if referees know that we’ll be contacting them first – so feel free to tell them your plans.

We also process Enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB/ DBS) Disclosures for each live-in carer for the elderly. Once we have completed our checks you’ll be ready to start work as soon as the client agrees on a start date.

We take great care in matching our carers to our clients and the start date can depend on finding the right placement for you, but normally this is within a week or two.