Care homes and carers vary in price depending on the level of care required. Whether or not your family will pay less for a live in carer than a colleague at work or the family down the road can’t be answered briefly as there are so many variables.
Live in care
Many carers are placed through live in care agencies There are two main types of agency – introductory agencies and managed service agencies. You can find out more at the Live in Care Hub about different types of agency.
An introductory agency provides you with a list of available carers, and may complete background checks on your behalf, but it is your responsibility to interview and employ the carer. You pay a fee to the agency for their work finding carers, and then negotiate payment with the carer directly. You will then employ them and need to comply with employers legislation regarding taxes, NI contributions, pensions, holidays and so forth.
A managed service takes a weekly or monthly fee from you and places a carer in your home. As you are not employing the carer yourself you have only one fee to worry about, but you may pay more than if you were employing directly.
Care homes
There is a spectrum of different types of residential accomodation, from sheltered housing schemes where you rent an apartment with access to shared facilities and a warden ensures you are well through care homes that provide personal care to nursing homes that are able to provide nursing support.
The more support is required the more it costs. A care home providing personal care only will have fees made up mainly of food and accommodation costs. If specialist support is required, for example dementia care, then this could add a significant sum to the cost of care. Nursing care can almost double the fees payable.
Comparing live in care and care homes
According to Live-in Care Hub the average cost of bothcare homes and live-in care is around £750 per week, rising to £1400 if nursing care is needed. As this is an average the actual fees in any particular situation could be higher or lower, and will vary by region.
A live-in carer’s salary does not include extra household expenditure, such as increased food bills, greater fuel usage, extra insurance premiums and similar. Care home fees will include accommodation and food costs as well as care costs. If a couple need care however the costs of a care home will typically simply double, whereas the costs of live-in care will not rise as much making live-in care a much more attractive alternative. Care homes that accept pets are often much more expensive than average, whereas a live-in carer who is prepared to walk a dog or feed a cat may only demand a small surcharge for their time.
Make sure you have the full picture before deciding which is the best option for your family.
I have one live-in, full-time, caregiver who is not in the house most days because she has a business and a shop that she tends to. Her responsibilities have gradually increased over the 25 years that I have hired her, largely by the hour. I also have two other part-time caregivers who I pay hourly to care for me, primarily at night in order to prevent pressure sores, my being too cold or too hot and other tasks related to my medicines and incontinence.
My expenses, while tremendous, are about one half of what I would have to pay in an assisted living scenario. I hire my own people through care.com where I can easily run background checks and have a ready pool of applicants if I need someone. I manage my own pay and supervision of my caregivers, also known as attendants. In a group home, I would be at the mercy of the manager of the home and their schedules. I would not be the owner/supervisor. However, if I become incompetent mentally, like so many aging people do, my form of dealing with my disability would not work.
You've done a good job of explaining the differences of the different types of care concisely and clearly. But it is only through experience that the best care can be found for each individual.
Ron