FAQs

Care Seekers

Carers set their own pay rates. You agree on the charge rate with your carer & sign a contract. The cost of care is often determined by the level of care required. It may vary depending on the carers location, skills and experience and length of time you need care. Hourly care rates can cost anywhere between £18-£29 and live-in care can cost upwards of £850.

Enter your city/town/postcode on the search carers page and this will provide a list of carers near you. Filter by language, skills, experience, hourly pay rate, and distance. You can then look at profiles of Carers who match your requirements.

It depends on the circumstances. If you need a carer urgently to cover another carer, we can recommend carers who are suitable and who have been able to help in this area before. This is best setup as an immediate contract and payment.

If you are looking for a longer term contract, we advise you meet the carer, decide they are the right person for you or your loved one and then agree the contract terms. Many clients like to meet with their carer before confirming an ongoing or longer term contract to ensure there is a good match.

Yes, If you need a carer for different times of the day or week, you may need to find additional carers who are able to work at different times. Equally, you may have a carer who is taking leave and you can arrange a short term contract with another carer to cover this period. Hometouch allows you to have multiple carer contracts simultaneously which can all be managed from the contracts page on the main hometouch dashboard.

We check all of our carers ID, Qualifications and CRB/DBS certificates. We also face to face interview every carer that joins hometouch and assess them against 5 criteria – punctuality, communication skills, compassion/empathy, ability to take initiative and personal presentation/honesty. We conduct detailed scenario testing and reference check all carers. We pride ourselves on the high quality bar we set and only accept a small fraction of the carer applicants we receive.

No. Carer Plus is an introductory service and does not provide care. We are therefore not required to register with the CQC. Individual self-employed carers do not have to register with the CQC either. We do however want to ensure the highest levels of care and continuously use your feedback so only the best carers are available on the Carer Plus platform.

According to regulatory guidelines published by the Care Quality Commission, “introductory agencies” who impose no control over ongoing care provision, but introduce carers and provide other ancillary services to facilitate a carer/care seeker relationship, have no statutory requirement to register with the CQC. Holm is therefore unable to offer services such as changes to a care plan, increased frequency or intensity of care visits, back-up rotas or otherwise effect control over the delivery of the care by the care worker. Care workers who provide personal care on a self-employed basis also have no requirement to be registered with the CQC providing the services offered do not extend beyond personal care. Holm does however provide a suite of complementary services as part of the care contract that enable a customer to monitor the carer’s performance. Holm does not and is unable to monitor individual care performance.

 

Absolutely! We understand that sometimes you need to make alternative plans. You can cancel single appointments or whole bookings. We ask that you do give at least 24 hours notice though, as carers do plan their lives to help you. We can waive this rule under exceptional circumstances such as emergency medical treatment. Please do contact us if you need help.

In the event of a whole booking being cancelled, we may contact you to see how we can help and to arrange any reimbursements

In the unlikely event of a carer providing poor service, please contact Carer Plus straightaway. We’re here to help and want to resolve any problems you have. We take any allegations of poor care, dishonesty, poor punctuality, incompetence or poor communication very seriously and will take action immediately if you have concerns.

Please provide as much information as possible. Carer Plus will use this to help you decide if you need to cancel any ongoing bookings and whether or not you should be reimbursed for poor service.

It’s just as important that poor care is investigated as well as good care being rewarded.

No, it’s against our terms and conditions to pay for carer services outside of Carer Plus’ payment system. This offers a safe and convenient method for people to pay and be paid. It relies upon the honesty of all users. Failure to use it could be to the detriment of all other users.

 

Signing up to CarerPlus is free which means you can start searching and messaging carers. Self-employed Carers on the platform set their own hourly rates, which are displayed on their profile. You can discuss and agree the rate and schedule with each individual Carer before booking them. Carers and clients agree on rates before support is delivered on CarePlus. The client pays this agreed rate plus 7.95%, while the self-employed receives the agreed rate less 10%.

 

For example, if $45 per hour is the agreed rate, with CarePlus’ 7.95% client platform fee the client pays $48.58 per hour ($45 x 1.0795 = $3.58 fee). With Mable’s 10% worker platform fee ($45 x .1 = $4.50 fee) the worker receives $40.50 an hour.

No fees are charged until a client books a support worker and the services are delivered. All payments are made online and can be easily tracked via your timesheet and reports on your dashboard.

CarerPlus uses the same secure online payment system as many well-known companies. You can use a variety of debit and credit cards as well as PayPal. Your payment details are taken at the time of booking, but payment is only taken once the carer has confirmed the booking. Your money is held by a safe third-party company until both you and the carer have confirmed the visit was completed successfully.

The carer is then paid the following Friday. If you’ve made an ongoing booking of appointments, then the carer will be paid after the successful completion of each appointment, rather than the completion of the whole booking.

Once validated, payment is released and paid directly from CARECITE into the carer’s bank account. 

CARECITE adds a £5 service fee plus VAT for the use of the technology, insurance costs and secure payment platform fees, payable by the care seeker. This fee is included in the hourly rate that’s displayed in the carer listings. 

PLEASE NOTE: Off-Platform care services and cash payments are strictly forbidden and are liable to a Private Hire Placement fee + VAT, payable by the client. CARECITE will remove both any care seeker and carer that breaches this condition from the platform.

We take the safety, security and privacy of carers, care seekers and care recipients very seriously. All communication should be conducted through CarerPlus’ secure webapp platform. Communication is archived and can be accessed in the event of any dispute. Please see our Terms and Conditions for more information.

You can book a carer for just one hour or you can book someone for longer periods on an ongoing contract. If you do have to cancel an appointment, please remember to give the carer at least 24 hours’ notice. They are planning their lives around yours.

We believe that 15 minutes is never enough to say hello, never mind provide great care. That’s why all appointments are at least one hour. You can also book longer visits, just use the booking system to ask the carer

Unlike most care agencies, you can choose the best carers for your needs. If you need any assistance, please do let us know and we’ll be happy to help. The choice is always yours.

 
 

CarerPlus provides a safe place for families and people looking for care to find individual carers. CarerPlus helps you find quality carers in your area and then contact them directly. You can do this by searching for carers using your postcode and filtering system to make sure you find the carers that fulfil your needs. You can then book and communicate with them through our site. The carer will confirm the appointment or offer alternatives if they’re busy. The carer will receive all the information they need to help before coming to your home.

Once the appointment has been completed, we ask both you and the carer to confirm that everything is satisfactory so that the carer can be paid. If you forget to confirm or decline within five days of the appointment, the carer will automatically be paid. Please also leave regular reviews of the carers as other people in the CarerPlus community value your opinion.

After you have discussed and agreed the rates, services and schedule with the support worker, they will send you an agreement which outlines all of these details. The agreement must be accepted before the support worker can begin working. If an agreement has not been sent and accepted, the support worker is not covered by insurance for any work that they do.

You will receive a notification when your support worker has sent you an agreement. To view the agreement and accept, log in to Carerplus, go to your inbox and open the conversation with the support worker who has sent you the agreement. An agreement can also be rejected, for example, if the times agreed upon are incorrect.

Why can’t I accept an agreement?
You will not be able to accept an agreement until you have completed your profile on Carerplus, including emergency contact information and payment details. This is to protect both clients and support workers.

We will never sell the personal data that you give us when you join or create a profile. The information we ask for is solely used for providing the service we offer. If you create a profile, your details will be displayed on our platform for other users to see once it has been reviewed and approved by our moderation team.

Our platform features our own unique secure, private messaging system which is used by members to contact each other. Members do not even have to disclose their email address to other members until they choose to do so.

Please ensure you read our Safety Centre for advice on how to stay safe when using our service.

We provide members with a range of tools and settings to protect their privacy. These are managed via the Privacy Settings page of your account.

We follow security procedures as required under UK Data Protection Legislation (the Data Protection Act 1998) to protect the information that we store about you from unauthorised access. Our Data Protection Registration Number is: Z1605379

Please read our Privacy Policy for more details.

Tags are a way for both parents and childcare providers to add keywords to their profile to help describe the childcare services they are seeking or providing. Depending upon whether you are a parent or childcare provider, you will be able to choose from a range of tags when you create or edit your profile.

Tags are used to create the My Summary section of childcare provider profiles and are used under the My Requirements section of parent profiles. Tags are also used by our search features to help members refine and filter their search.

If you would like to close your account for any reason, at any time, simply visit our cancellation page at www.childcare.co.uk/cancel and you will be able to close your account.

If you wish to make a request for us to delete your personal data, in accordance with your rights under GDPR, then please contact us.

Once you have signed up and created your profile and set your care needs, you’ll see a list of available carers in your area. You can view profiles and select carers you’d like to chat with. Care seekers send carers the job opportunity and then communicate through the app via messaging.  

Once you’ve found a carer who meets your needs, you can accept and confirm the care session by making payment through the app. 

All communication should take place through the webapp so it’s recorded and stored.

By engaging a self-employed carer, it means you don’t have the responsibilities of an employer such as holiday pay, benefits, pensions or PAYE. 

Care seekers pay the agreed hourly rate, plus service fee from CARECITE. The carer is responsible for paying their own taxes, providing uniforms and covering their own expenses.

Carers choose their own working hours to suit their lifestyle needs and family commitments.

Carers will only see your personal information if you decide to hire them. 

The in-platform secure communications suite is there for your privacy. CARECITE requires all communication is conducted through our platform. 

Relevant anonymised postcode location information will be visible to potential carers. This enables them to make an informed decision based on the general location when applying to your job opportunity.

No, carers are self-employed and are responsible for paying for their own expenses including transport, uniforms and PPE. 

We accept in unusual circumstances one-off expenses may be used in emergencies. For these unforeseen events, we believe these are best handled directly between the care seeker and the carer.

We recommend that you consider more than one carer to cover unforeseen circumstances such as illness, or for planned leave. 

You can hire multiple carers on the CARECITE platform, so it’s a good idea to create a personal care team. In the event of sickness or planned leave, you can call on your care team to cover any absence and maintain your continuity of care. 

CARECITE doesn’t provide managed care and there’s no guarantee of the provision of care through our platform.

CARECITE gives users total flexibility if care needs change. You’ve always got complete control over the care plan. Care plans can be adjusted – you can change times, days, the amount of time required as well as skills and expertise needed. Changes can be discussed with your existing carers or new carers can be hired through the webapp.

CARECITE strongly recommends that care seekers contact referees directly, with the permission of the carer, before hiring them. The carer will provide references upon request. 

Whilst our platform matches suitable carers with your needs, it’s the responsibility of the care seeker to make the final decision about the suitability of the carer for the role. Contacting references can build confidence and confirm suitability of the carer for the care needs.

All carers on the CARECITE platform are self-employed and are liable for their own tax and NICs. Care seekers pay only the hourly rate agreed between themselves and the carer along with the £5 service fee plus VAT.

Care seekers are not liable for holiday pay, sickness pay or any other benefits.

Yes. As part of the CARECITE vetting and certification process, every carer must submit ID, right to work documentation (right to work in the UK, if applicable) and a valid Enhanced DBS certificate.* Carers are also interviewed and assessed for suitability by our onboarding team. 

A DBS certificate (previously known as a CRB) is a criminal records check done by the Disclosure and Barring Service. A clean DBS certificate is required, dated within the last three years. We encourage carers to join the Update Service before signing up to CARECITE, where their DBS is updated annually.

For additional peace of mind, we recommend that during the hiring process, you check that the DBS check meets your requirements. 

*A PVG (Protecting Vulnerable Groups) check is the Scottish version of DBS. The check in Northern Ireland is called an Access NI.

Our business model enables both client and client’s family to be firmly in control of organising and overseeing care. This allows us to keep overheads to a minimum and pass this saving on. For the use of our system, we charge a flat percentage fee of the carers pay rate (plus applicable taxes). The rate depends on the type of care you are looking for and ranges from 12.5 to 20 %. It covers among other things the following:

• System maintenance

• Software costs

• The cost of advertising your care requirements

• The cost of undertaking all the required checks and references

• Agreement templates for the client and carer as well as other useful documents

• Access to our secure payment function on the portal and management of your payments and invoices ongoing

• Scheduling and roster management so you can view/check and amend your care schedule 24/7

Carers will charge for the equivalent of a second-class train ticket to and from a placement or a mileage rate of .45p a mile if they drive. They will also charge £40 weekly for food or the client can include the food for the carer in their usual food shop. The carer will invoice the client directly for additional expenses.

Toggle CHandover arrangements should be agreed directly between clients and carers. We would recommend that handovers take place where possible at 12 midday so carers can be paid a half day for both the day they commence an assignment and the day they finish an assignment. If a carer is traveling to their assignment, a client may wish to allow travel time – this is at the discretion of the client 

Yes, we are able to register carer and companions in all areas of the United Kingdom, although, the ability to supply care in these areas depends on the availability of carers to travel to specific areas.

As we are an introductory agency, we are not permitted to train our carers, however, we only work with carers who have had at least 6 months of experience, preferably in a regulated setting such as a care home. All carers go through a robust onboarding process.

As part of the registration process, one of the requirements is that carers can evidence a current self-employed carer insurance policy. It is worth noting that some home insurance policies can cover you for public liability so we recommend you look into this.

As part of the registration process, one of the requirements is that carers can evidence a current self-employed carer insurance policy. It is worth noting that some home insurance policies can cover you for public liability so we recommend you look into this.

Carers

Depending on the situation and the carer’s experience, carers receive on average between £100 and £120 a day.

As soon as your profile is up and running on our site, you can respond to job enquiries and express interest in roles.

CarerPlus is an online platform for self-employed carers. We have harnessed technology to give you, as a carer, choice and control over who you care for and the hours you work.

Care agencies typically send in different carers on a daily basis. With CarerPlus, you have complete control and the opportunity for consistent clients of your choice.

To be a self-employed Live-in Carer, you will need provide us with Live-in care Training certificates. The subjects we would be looking for are (First Aid, Moving & Handling, Safeguarding People from Abuse and Medication). Beyond this we ensure the Live-in Carer we present to our client has the correct levels of experience to match the client’s condition. And of course, the more bookings (this is what we call a job), you take on the more Live-in care experience you gain!

Yes, you do. As a self-employed Live-in Carer you need to buy your own gloves, aprons, masks, anti-bac gels etc. Do remember though that you are able to claim for it as an ‘allowable business expense’. Here’s a handy link for more info on this –  allowable business expense.

Before working for your client on the CarePlus platform, you must send your client a service agreement. Once they’ve approved it, you can begin providing support and submit your care hours for payment.

  1. After the support session, submit your support hours.
  2. The client or their representative approves the care hours – typically within 24 hours – and an invoice is generated. For most clients, invoices are generated weekly on Wednesdays. To help avoid delays, we recommend submitting completed support hours before Tuesdays at 9am .
  3. CarerPlus invoices the person or organisation responsible for the client’s funding source.

    Note: All invoices are checked for issues that might prevent or delay collection of your payment.

Then, how long it takes to get paid depends on your chosen payment option.

Learn more about payment options, processes and timeframes and why you may experience a payment delay.

T

Tags are a way for both parents and childcare providers to add keywords to their profile to help describe the childcare services they are seeking or providing. Depending upon whether you are a parent or childcare provider, you will be able to choose from a range of tags when you create or edit your profile.

Tags are used to create the My Summary section of childcare provider profiles and are used under the My Requirements section of parent profiles. Tags are also used by our search features to help members refine and filter their search.

f you have found childcare or a childcare job and would like to keep your account active but would like remove your profile from our site then you can visit our Privacy Settings page which has an option to hide your profile. Once your profile is hidden you will be able to reactivate it in the future by visiting the Privacy Settings page again.

Whilst you profile is hidden all other features of your account will remain active.

Please note that hiding your profile will not cancel any recurring payments associated with a paid subscription. To cancel recurring payments go to our cancellation page.

If you would like to close your account for any reason, at any time, simply visit our cancellation page at www.childcare.co.uk/cancel and you will be able to close your account.

If you wish to make a request for us to delete your personal data, in accordance with your rights under GDPR, then please contact us.

As a live-in carer, you can expect to work an average of 8-to-10-hour days. However, flexibility may be required in the event of emergency with your client outside of these hours. 

You’ll receive regular breaks off the premises, which gives you time to relax and rejuvenate, and enjoy activities which are important to you

First impressions count, so a clear, smart, well-lit headshot with an uncluttered neutral background is important. 

Clients are more likely to notice your profile if you are looking happy and personable. A recent, quality photo of you that makes you shine and reflects your personality will make you stand out. 

Once you’ve uploaded your ID and DBS information to the app and you’ve met our eligibility criteria, you’ll need to complete a welcome video interview with our onboarding team. When you’ve been approved as a CARECITE carer, your profile will go live on the platform within 72 hours.

Identification documents required include:

  • Driving licence or utility bill
  • Passport
  • Enhanced DBS certificate