How much does home care cost in 2026? Hourly, live-in and overnight rates

Across the 13,461 home care agencies registered in England, the middle weekday daytime rate we have on record is £32 an hour. London and the South East sit above that, the North and the Midlands below it, and the spread within one council area is often wider than the spread between regions.

The rate is not mostly profit. The Homecare Association, the trade body, calculates a minimum price for care each year: the amount an agency has to charge to pay carers the legal minimum, cover their travel time and mileage between visits, train and insure them, run an office and make a small surplus. For 2026/27 that figure is £34.42 an hour. An agency charging much less than that is either paying its carers badly, cutting corners on travel time, or being subsidised by council contracts.

Most people start with a pattern of visits rather than a number of hours. Here is what the common patterns come to at the typical rate, before any weekend uplift.

• One hour a day, seven days: about £224 a week.
• Morning and evening, an hour each: about £448 a week.
• Three visits a day, morning, lunch and teatime: about £672 a week.
• Six hours a day: about £1,344 a week, which is already more than most live-in care.

Short visits cost more per hour. Many agencies price a 30 minute call at around two thirds of the hourly rate rather than half, because the carer’s travel time is the same whether the visit is short or long. Some will not do less than 45 minutes or an hour. The agency page on this site shows the shortest visit each one offers where its website says.

Almost every agency charges more at weekends, typically ten to twenty per cent, and more again on bank holidays, often time and a half or double. If your pattern needs seven days a week, ask for the weekend rate before you compare two agencies on their weekday figure.

Nights are priced per night rather than per hour. A sleeping night, where the carer sleeps in the house and is on hand, is usually £120 to £180. A waking night, where the carer is up throughout, is £180 to £280.

Then the extras. Ask about each:

• Mileage or a travel charge for visits beyond a set distance from the office, commonly a pound or two an hour or 45p a mile.
• A charge for the initial assessment. Most agencies do it free, some do not.
• Cancellation terms: 24 or 48 hours is normal, and a visit cancelled inside that is usually charged.
• Whether two carers are needed for hoisting or transfers, which doubles the rate for that visit.

Compare weeks, not hours. The agency with the lowest weekday rate is not always the cheapest once the weekend and the travel charge are in.

Live-in care is one carer living in the home, working an agreed pattern each day with breaks, and priced per week. Agencies typically charge £1,400 a week for one person, and around fifteen per cent more for a couple. The carer needs a bedroom of their own and food; those are your costs on top.

The crossover with visits is around 35 hours a week. Below that, visits are cheaper. Above it, live-in is cheaper and also covers the night, which is what most families are actually paying for once care reaches that level. The hourly visits or live-in care guide goes through how to tell which you need.

Two agencies covering the same street can be ten pounds an hour apart. The usual reasons:

• Who employs the carers. An agency that employs its staff pays holiday, sick pay, pension and travel time. An introductory agency that matches you with self-employed carers has none of those costs and charges less, but you take on more of the arrangement.
• Council contracts. Agencies that mostly work for the council are paid the council rate, which is lower than the private rate, and some price private clients low to fill gaps in the rota. Others price private clients high to make up the difference.
• Where you are. Rural areas mean more driving between visits. London means higher pay.
• What the visit involves. Complex care, two-carer visits and specialist training all move the rate.

The agency rate pays for a carer and an office. If you are willing to choose the carer yourself and agree the hours between you, the office falls away. Self-employed carers on PrimeCarers charge £18 to £25 an hour and set their own rates; the platform vets them (an interview, DBS, ID and right to work) and you pick from their profiles. Live-in care the same way is from about £1,120 a week.

The trade is continuity and cost against cover. The same carer comes every time, but if they are ill you arrange the cover, with the platform’s help. The agency or your own carer guide sets the two side by side.