Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Elderly parents

Carers charging for 30 minutes but only working 15-20 minutes - is this normal for care?

103 replies

ImissSpangles · 07/08/2026 09:25

I am not sure if this is a normal thing to expect from care or not.

Mum lives with my dad, she has dementia and is incontinent. Last year we employed a team of carers to help mum.

They are all self employed but work together as a team, so not an actual care company. In retrospect we absolutely should have gone with a company because things can often become a bit too fragmented for my liking, for example I have to pay everyone individually, they insist on being paid weekly, I would have preferred monthly but they don't want that. Tbh, we had to rush about finding these carers a year ago after mum had come out of a long hospital stay and the NHS discharge carers let us down. It was all frantic at the time and very stressful. Looking back at it all a care company would have been a much better fit.

Anyhow, the carers come three times a day, around 9.30am to get mum up, put on the loo and showered/dressed, then again after lunch for a toilet break and again at 7pm to put mum to bed. They come in pairs and charge £26 per hour and £20 per half hour. This is 7 days a week.

However, they will often only do 15-20 minutes during the afternoon and evening visit and will round their charge to the nearest half hour. I am usually at my parents for the afternoon visit and I have never known them to ever do a full half hour.

I have no idea if this is normal practice for carers? I asked on a Subreddit and was piled upon by some people saying that it's poor enough money as it is and the carers have to consider travel expenses etc. I am a self employed cleaner and when I tell my clients that I am doing an hour, I will do the full hour, I have also incorporated the cost of my travel into my fee as this isn't my clients concern (and my fee is a lot less than the carers).

Does anyone else have private carers for a parent and do they do this? Maybe it is normal, I honestly don't know?

OP posts:
Ilovemyfam · 08/08/2026 09:50

ImissSpangles · 07/08/2026 19:03

Thank you so much. This has been such a steep learning curve for us. One moment I was raising my own children, they just step into early adulthood and suddenly I’m back to caring, organising and sorting out others people’s issues.

We went about this all wrongly. I can’t believe we just put all of our trust into strangers. They say they are insured and have all the relevant training etc but hand on heart I’ve never seen any documentation and it’s feels too embarrassing to ask a year on.

Hopefully the SS wait won’t be long and we can get as much advice from them as possible.

I think it is a steep learning curve for many. We were helped by having had my sister’s FIL having had to go into residential care the previous year. My sister learned how important POA is - the gentleman had never set it up. They had no control over when and where he was placed. They had a three hour round trip journey to visit him despite being the only relatives who visited. They learned that SS needs not get involved in choosing the home - but they are a source of info about what homes exist.

Keep asking questions of others who have gone before.❤️

Ilovemyfam · 08/08/2026 09:57

ImissSpangles · 07/08/2026 13:19

At £26 per hour, per carer I don't think that's too bad, I don't get paid anywhere near that hourly rate.

They don't use any of their own equipment or PPE, we even supply their gloves.

Edited

We have never provided PPE - surely they would have to know the quality and how safely it is stored.

The district nurses leave the dressings in the house - but those dressings are applied to mums leg. I think that is different to PPE you are wearing yourself.

It just strikes me as unprofessional.

Ilovemyfam · 08/08/2026 10:26

ImissSpangles · 07/08/2026 15:35

Thank you. I will definitely ask about the two carer issue,um can get out of bed and her recliner and can walk, albeit slowly with her frame.

Assessment from physio determined how many carers mum and dad needed when walking about. When in the rehab setting there was a whiteboard behind their beds saying “Zimmer+1” or +2. This instruction needed to go home. It had to be followed in order that carers were moving them “safely”.

The fact that mum was discharged home needing “plus two” - for 4 visits was a reason she was moved to residential care. Residential worked out cheaper (despite being a high cost). By the time we took into account electricity, food, costs around maintenance of the house etc, we were surprised how little difference it was. The relief when we no longer have to be monitoring cameras, planning menus, organizing medical visits, is tangible.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread