How do I find a live in carer?

[Greenfluffybasket]

What experiences have everyone had? Was quoted nearly £2k a week.

[FelicityBeedle]

That’s about right, there are 168 hours in a week, that’s equivalent to 4 and a half people’s full time working week

[Greenfluffybasket]

Bumping

[thesandwich]

Have you tried your local authority website? They sometimes offer a brokerage service to help you find a good carer/ agency.

[EmilyInSing]

I’m in a similar situation - looking for a carer for mum. If anyone has any suggestions that would be amazing.
Our local authority site allows people to advertise as carers but doesn’t do any sort of vetting as far as I can tell.
ideally I’d like to hire someone through an agency who has been vetted, had background checks etc, but can stay long term not just rotate in for a few weeks.

[Daffidale]

Contact local care agencies and get quotes. They will do assessments etc. It will be more expensive than employing directly yourself, but if you haven’t employed carers before I think an agency is the place to start.

Live in care is usually a rotation with a couple of carers, each doing eg 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. Some agencies will do longer periods. Find one who will give continuity and not swap people around.

Once you have settled and more experience, you may be able to employ direct. We used to advertise. Donkeys years ago it was The Lady magazine but I expect there are websites now. But I’d only do this is your are confident assessing carers and can properly vet them. We had family living in too so it was lower risk as they could keep and eye on things.

If they don’t need full time care per se, but more someone around the house, in some areas Age UK do a live-in lodger scheme called “homeshare”.

[thesandwich]

Home instead have been mentioned here - expensive I know but well regarded. Country cousins was another one- and also it has been suggested looking at The Lady magazine- think it’s on line too for recommendations?

[nicknamehelp]

Do they need to do care at night or just be there in case? As if care needed you will need a waking care night person as well as day person. If no care needed you can get by with 1 person who will do 1 or 2 weeks then switch with someone else. They are not easy to come by and an agency like Home Instead are your best bet.

[EmotionalBlackmail]

You can get carers who will do longer rather than the 2 weeks on 2 weeks off model but they're a lot harder to find since leaving the EU. It used to be a popular option for particularly younger Europeans wanting to travel as they'd do a 3 month stint as a carer living in, barely have any expenses as they are housed and fed, then be able to travel.

It's usually a 3 month period of time, so you'd still be looking at training somebody new four times a year - 2 weeks on 2 off might be easier in terms of training as it would be the same people on repeat.

That was for someone providing care in the daytime, cleaning, laundry, cooking food and taking/accompanying to appointments. It's harder to find one who can drive. There is no expectation of night time care and they get one full day off per week and 3 hours every morning when an agency would need to send someone else in to cover. So still additional people to get used to.

[EyesOnThePies]

Try Christie’s

[EmotionalBlackmail]

Also check what you need to provide for the carer. Friend who used them was expected to provide food for them which caused some issues if they had expensive tastes, or didn't want to eat what she was eating (carer was cooking for both of them). A lot of the carers only had very basic cooking skills and expected to use a lot of convenience products which the person being cared for couldn't afford.

[henrysugar12]

Sounds about right, if a little on the cheap side. My grandmother was in a basic, council-run care home and that was £1k a week.

Remember, the carer won't be earning all of that, the agency will be taking a large chunk of it.

[piscofrisco]

Caresourcer website is a good place to start

[EyesOnThePies]

I think we paid about £1k a week ( no ‘waking nights’ ). But we had to arrange someone to cover a 2 hour break each day. Actually 2 hours mid afternoon would have been fine to be left alone but we preferred to cover it with other Carer’s or family.

They don’t just cover E Anglia, that is where their office and training centre is based.

https://christiescare.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMImtzc6rzXgQMVVO3tCh0XuAUnEAAYASAAEgJ5TPDBwE

[EmilyInSing]

Thank you so much everyone - these are really helpful suggestions. Really appreciate the responses - I will start investigating them all!

[francescaAC]

Prices very much vary between providers but there are plenty that are equivalent or more affordable than a good quality care home. Some good providers suggested here, suggest Alcedo Live-In Care worth a chat with as well. Remember "agency" often leave you to arrange HR/paying carers yourself where as other care providers offer fully managed service ensuring your carers are fully trained and compliant along with arranging payroll, pension etc for the staff.