Live In Care
A trained carer moves into the home and is there day and night, so that moving out of it never has to be the answer.
The alternative to a care home that most families do not know exists
Live in care means a carer moves into the home and lives there. They have their own room. They are on hand through the day, they are in the house overnight, and the support is shaped entirely around one household rather than split between forty residents on a corridor.
Families usually find their way to it at the point where the choice looks like it is between a care home and a relative giving up work. It is worth knowing before that point that there is a third option, because for a lot of people live in care costs less than a residential placement and keeps every single thing about their life intact.
The thing that surprises people most is how much stays the same. Same bed, same chair, same view out of the window, same time for a cup of tea, same programmes on, same dog on the sofa. For somebody living with dementia that continuity is not sentimental, it is clinical. Familiar surroundings hold onto abilities that a move takes away almost overnight.
It also works for couples. Residential care frequently separates two people who have lived together for fifty years, because one qualifies for a placement and the other does not. One live in carer can support a couple in their own house, and we would far rather do that than watch a marriage get split across two postcodes.
This is likely right if
- Support is needed unpredictably rather than at fixed times
- The realistic alternative on the table is a residential care home
- A couple want to stay together and only one of them needs support
- Night times have become the difficult part
- Being at home is doing more good than any building could
Something else may fit better if
- Support is only needed at set times of day, where ordinary homecare costs far less
- There is genuinely no room in the house for a carer to sleep
- The need is primarily nursing rather than care, which requires a registered nurse
What a day with a live in carer looks like
Less like a shift and more like somebody being about. The rhythm of the house sets the day rather than a rota.
Morning
Up when you want to be up, not when a visit was scheduled. Washing, dressing, breakfast, medication, all at the pace of the person rather than the clock.
Through the day
Meals cooked in your own kitchen, the house kept going, company if you want it and quiet if you do not. Out to the shops, the club, the appointment, the garden centre.
Evening
A proper evening meal, help getting ready for bed, and somebody in the house so that the hours after dark stop being the frightening part of the day.
Overnight
The carer sleeps in the house. For most people that means help if they need the bathroom or become unsettled. Where somebody is up repeatedly every night, that is waking night work and we staff it differently.
Carer breaks
A live in carer gets a proper break every day and time off each week. That is covered rather than skipped, because a carer who never stops is a carer who makes mistakes.
Handovers
Live in carers work in rotations. Changeovers are done in person with a full handover, so the person arriving already knows how you take your tea and which stair is the awkward one.
What is included, and what is not
Set out plainly so there is nothing to discover later. Anything not listed here can still be discussed, and often arranged.
Included as standard
- A carer who is DBS checked, trained and matched to the household
- Cover for the carer during breaks and rotations, arranged by us not by you
- A written care plan agreed before anybody moves in
- Support with personal care, medication, meals, housework and getting out
- Support for a couple where only one person has care needs
- Regular office contact and a manager you can reach
Arranged separately
- The carer needs their own bedroom and access to a bathroom, which the household provides
- Food for the carer, which most households simply add to the weekly shop
- Nursing tasks requiring a registered nurse
- Waking night cover, which is a different arrangement and priced separately
From first call to first visit
Live in care takes a little longer to start than a visiting service, because matching the right person to a household matters more than speed.
Talk it through
Often the first conversation is really about whether live in care is even affordable. It frequently is, and comparing it honestly against a residential placement is the right place to start.
Assessment at home
We look at the support needed, the room for the carer, the layout of the house, and just as importantly what kind of person would fit in it.
Matching
We propose a carer and tell you about them properly. You are not obliged to accept the first suggestion and saying no costs you nothing.
Moving in
A staged start with introductions rather than a stranger arriving with a suitcase. Then a review in the first fortnight while everybody is still adjusting.
How this is paid for
Live in care is often compared unfavourably with a care home on price before anybody has actually done the arithmetic. Residential fees are per person, so for a couple the comparison usually favours live in care outright. For one person the two are frequently closer than families expect.
It can be funded privately, through a Direct Payment, through a Personal Health Budget, or through NHS Continuing Healthcare where the need is primarily a health need. We will go through the options with you honestly, including telling you when a different service would cost you less.
Read the full guide to fundingWhat families ask us about this
Is live in care cheaper than a care home?
For a couple, almost always, because residential fees are charged per person and one live in carer supports the household. For one person it depends on the level of need. We will do that comparison with you using real numbers rather than talking around it.
Does the carer need their own room?
Yes. A live in carer needs their own bedroom and access to a bathroom. They are living there, not camping. Beyond that the house does not need adapting to take a live in carer.
What happens when the carer needs a break?
They get a break every day and time off each week, and we arrange cover for it. This is our problem to solve, not the family. A carer who is never off duty is a carer who burns out, and the person who pays for that is the person being cared for.
Can you support a couple?
Yes, and it is one of the strongest reasons to look at live in care. One carer can support a household where only one person has care needs, which keeps two people who have lived together for decades in the same house.
What if we do not get on with the carer?
Tell us and we will match somebody else. Living alongside someone is far more intimate than a half hour visit and the fit matters enormously. Nobody has to justify a personality clash to us.
Do you provide waking nights?
That is a different arrangement. A live in carer sleeps in the house and can help if somebody needs them in the night. If somebody genuinely needs support throughout the night, every night, that needs waking night staff and we would tell you so rather than stretch a live in package past what it can do.
Do you actually provide this now?
Yes. Live in care is an active service, not a plan. Ring us and we will talk about who is available and when.
Services that often go together
Homecare and Personal Care
Support in your own home, from half an hour a day to round the clock, built around the way you already live.
Read moreDementia Care
Support built around what somebody can still do, in the surroundings that help them keep doing it.
Read moreCarer Support and Respite
Planned breaks, from a few hours to a few weeks, for the person who has been doing this without stopping.
Read moreBefore you look at care homes, look at this
A lot of families move a relative into residential care without ever being told live in care existed. Have the conversation first. It costs nothing to ask.
Emergency placements are answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week.