HOW TO HIRE · CARE & SUPPORT · CHECKED OCTOBER 2026
Personal care at home for an older person is regulated in every UK nation. Here is the check, what to ask, and the help with costs.
TWO WAYS TO BUY THIS
A self-employed carer you book for a set number of hours to help with what you list — company, meals, getting out, light help in the home. You agree the rate per hour and the tasks, and you instruct them yourself. Right for regular companionship and practical help when your relative manages their own washing and dressing.
A provider registered with CQC (England), CIW (Wales), the Care Inspectorate (Scotland) or RQIA (Northern Ireland) that assesses your relative, writes a care plan, sends a team of employed or subcontracted carers and supervises them. Right when personal care — washing, dressing, the toilet — or several visits a day are needed, or when someone must cover sickness and holidays.
By the hour you pay one person a rate per hour and give the instructions; an agency charges for the care package, sends a team against a written care plan and arranges cover. VAT: care from a registered agency is exempt, and an individual carer under the threshold charges none.
THE 60-SECOND VERSION
BEFORE YOU BOOK
In England, help with washing, bathing, dressing or using the toilet, given at home to someone who cannot manage it because of age, illness or disability, is the regulated activity of personal care. An agency sending an elderly care worker to do it must be registered with CQC for that activity; one that says it has applied is not yet registered.
Search the agency on CQC's site, open the location that runs your care, check 'personal care' is listed and read the latest rating. cqc.org.uk →
Wales: a domiciliary support service must register with Care Inspectorate Wales under Wales's 2016 social care regulation Act, unless an exemption applies, such as care for four or fewer named people at a time. Scotland: a care at home service may not operate unless registered with the Care Inspectorate. Northern Ireland: the RQIA registers domiciliary care agencies under the Domiciliary Care Agencies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007.
Wales: CIW's service directory. Scotland: the Care Inspectorate's find-care directory, with grades. Northern Ireland: RQIA's register of domiciliary care agencies. careinspectorate.scot →
Care work with adults can get the enhanced DBS check with the adults' barred list in England and Wales, or the AccessNI equivalent in Northern Ireland; in Scotland an elderly care worker in a regulated role must be a PVG scheme member. You cannot apply for a DBS check on a self-employed carer yourself — they apply and show you the certificate, which has no official expiry date.
Ask to see the elderly care worker's certificate or PVG proof and read when it was issued. gov.uk →
An agency that only introduces an elderly care worker and has no ongoing control is outside CQC registration in England and CIW registration in Wales, so no regulator inspects the care. If you hire and pay an elderly care worker directly — including with direct payments — gov.uk says you are usually their employer: a contract, payslips, at least the National Minimum Wage, employers' liability insurance and payroll.
Ask in writing whether the agency employs and supervises the carer or only introduces them, and who you pay. gov.uk →
Care for an older person is exempt from VAT only when a charity, a public body or a provider registered with CQC (England), CIW (Wales), the Care Inspectorate (Scotland) or RQIA (Northern Ireland) supplies it under a care plan; otherwise it is standard-rated. A self-employed carer booked by the hour is not a regulated provider, so the exemption does not apply — but an individual under £90,000 does not charge VAT and has no VAT number to give. An agency with VAT taxable turnover over the threshold must be VAT-registered and show VAT as its own line on anything outside the exemption.
Ask an agency for its VAT number and its registration; ask an individual carer whether they are VAT-registered. gov.uk →
A good answer: A rating or grades, and how the elderly care agency answered any concerns.
A good answer: Interests, language, gender preference and a small regular team.
A good answer: Introductions, a walk through the care plan, and family present if wanted.
A good answer: A visit log, and a call for anything significant.
A good answer: Prompting or assisting as written in the plan, recorded on a chart.
A good answer: Named cover, not a stranger without notice.
A good answer: Yes, with a review.
Elderly care at home is charged by the hour, with different rates by time of day and a minimum visit length. Elderly Care price guide →
Guide prices compiled by the Locufy team from published Irish and UK provider price lists and 2026/27 cost guides. Updated 2026.
KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR? NOW FIND ONE
ID checked, trader status and one score from every review — on the card, before you message anyone. Nearest first. No account needed to look.
Or post the job free and let them come to you, or book by the hour.
AFTER
MONEY BACK
Help towards the cost of care, by nation. Attendance Allowance and Pension Age Disability Payment do not depend on having a carer; direct payments follow a care needs assessment.
Who: people at State Pension age or older whose disability or health condition means they need someone to help look after them
Who: people at State Pension age or over who have needed help with personal care for six months
Who: people at State Pension age with care needs from a disability or long-term condition
Who: people aged 16 or over assessed as needing care and support, carers, disabled parents and older people needing community care
Who: people assessed as needing social services help, including carers and parents of disabled children
Schemes change. The amounts above were checked on the dates shown; the official page is the one that counts.
If it gives personal care, yes — CQC in England, CIW in Wales, the Care Inspectorate in Scotland, the RQIA in Northern Ireland.
Care work with adults can get the enhanced DBS check with the adults' barred list (England, Wales), AccessNI's equivalent in Northern Ireland, or PVG membership in Scotland.
Attendance Allowance in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Pension Age Disability Payment in Scotland, and direct payments after an assessment.
£26 to £38 an hour, typically around £34. Evening, weekend and bank holiday visits cost more. The elderly care price guide has the full breakdown; enter your town above for prices from elderly care workers near you.
Not by a registered provider — welfare care is exempt under VAT Notice 701/2.
Complain to the agency in writing; it owes reasonable care and skill under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Then tell the regulator.
MORE GUIDES
