Costs of Live in Carers

[NotDoingOk]

Does anyone know roughly how much it would usually cost to employ a live-in carer in your area? I'm assuming their bed and board would be included, but what would the cost be in terms of wages?

Will depend on whether you're employing direct or through an agency. With an agency you don't have to worry about tax/employment rights/how to cover holidays etc, but obviously you're paying massively for the privilege! Agency fees in London/SouthEast are about 1500 pwk, but more if there are 'waking nights' and when more non-live-in care is needed (eg an extra person for morning/evening physical care being the usual one).

We were paying an agency ~£4500/month plus their food about 6yrs ago if that helps.

A friend has had 24hr live in carers for her father for nearly two years. The first year it was around £100,000. A combination of company and self employed carers.
I'm still shocked at the cost.

It is south Yorkshire.

100k doesn't seem too bad. So 1900 a week, or thereabouts for a year.

I've heard some nursing homes are as much as that.

Do you need 24 hour care?
In which case it is a team you need- not 1 person

You are paying the going hourly rate for care in your area- no discount for board and lodging and the majority of the time in the week they are not working or on call.

That is far too low if it is 24 hour care
£25 an hour x 24 x 7 is £4,200 a month before add on employer costs.
£15 an hour x 24 x 7 is £2520

Hard to see how 24 hour care would be less that £3k a week. There are 168 hours in a week.

Through an agency is from
about £1700 per week. I think it would be difficult to not use an agency as finding people to cover 24/7 365 days per year would be very tricky.

Just re CarAccident's query, live-in carers are paid a lot less than those that come and go because of the fact that they are getting bed and board. The way they work can vary, eg a few do 2 weeks on/2 weeks off as part of a 'team'; but most of the ones we've had will do 6 days on and 1 off, which tends to cost more because then the cover isn't counted as 'live in' but as 'day and night'.
The costs absolutely skyrocket if an extra carer has to come in for an hour or so a day.

I should clarify, the information isn't for myself. Someone I know has been offered employment as a live in carer, but was unsure if the proposed rates were fair. I advised them to contact an agency or PA brokerage to ensure that they would have proper training and supervision if needed, as well as help with payroll.

I think she needs to decide if she can hack it really. You tend to get a standard live in care rate, which is less than it would be if paid hourly. I also have been pretty shocked at how live in carers are often treated by their clients and clients families, and the abuse they are expected to just tolerate silently, especially the amount of really overt racism if they are black.
I really would think carefully about how long the placement is for and whether she would get proper breaks, or how the company would support her if it wasnt working out

C£7k a month for “24” hour care. Carers get own bedrooms and obviously sleep but woken up to 3x a night. 21 day shifts (more normal is 14 day shifts). This is a gross figure. Outskirts of London.

i was a live in carer - for someone on direct payments from the council.

I would never ever ever do it again. The entire industry is shot through with exploitation. If your friend dies do it here are some things to consider:

familiarise themselves with the national minimum wage regulations for timed and average hours working set ups
familiarise themselves with what HMRC will and will not recognise as ‘self employed’ for tax purposes - many are self employed but actually they are disguised employees. It’s incredibly rare for a live in carer/PA to actually be self employed and it can be quite a sting in the tail for HMRC to swoop in (snc they do because it’s a sector that has high rates of dusguised employment) and start demanding a bunch of tax and national insurance that your employer should have been paying.
be prepared to walk at thd first sign of their employer trying to fudge the hours they work - again, familiarity with the NMW regulations is important here.
join Unison - immediately.

there are a LOT of bad clients out there.

Also

get a contract and get someone who knows about employment law to read through it
Wnsure there is a clause in that contract for what happens if the employer goes into hospital for periods of time. Some employers expect their PA’s to just sit around with no pay waiting for yhrr we m to come back out of hospital.

I've done live in care.

The key thing to remember is demand is much higher than supply, especially for carers that are good.

You should be able to sleep properly at night and you shouldn't be doing any lifting that needs equipment or two people.

And you can always find a nicer client to work for. In places like West London demand is very high and clients have the money for it.

@NotDoingOk They will need someone to cover days off and holidays, and need clarity on hours too, just because you live in, it doesn't mean that you are available 24/7. It's hard work.

Just to say that live in carers are not paid an hourly rate but a weekly rate. Pop in carers work by the hour.

As far as carers being abused is concerned I sadly experienced the opposite when my daughter started living independently, we treated the carers well, gave them whole days off ( without letting agency know) and they treated my polite, respectful happy girl in every abusive way bar sexually! She still has scars on her armpits where they left hair removing crème on too long, they told her if she prayed to the Lord she'd get out of her wheelchair and walk 😮😮😮 intimidated her, commented she had an 'African bum' when changing her ( carers from Africa) and sad to say the list goes on. I had to give up my carers job and step in when I saw on camera a 'carer' wiping her mouth wearing gloves she cleans the toilet with 🤬. Four years later I'm caring for my daughter and to be abused so badly it's been a long road to get her trust and confidence back again. 💔

Live in carers can be paid hourly rates (timed work), I certainly was. But even at weekly rates, national minimum wage rules still apply (except for overnight sleep in hours which have no regulation attached to them and can be paid at any rate of the employer’s choosing except for hours spent awake for the purposes of working, and for paying those who are ‘self employed’ as NMW regs don’t apply for SE either) and an ‘average hours’ contract must be in place for ‘unmeasured work’ .

OP - I hope your friend finds something that suits them. If they go with an agency they need to be aware that many will again fudge hours by refusing to pay travel time and travel expenses, shadowing time, waiting time (except in instances where their home is within a reasonable distance to wait at), waking overnight hours etc. and that companies who will not pay these things are breaking the law if it means that pay for all the hours worked falls below NMW.