Guide
What is a private carer?
A private carer is a self-employed care worker engaged directly by a family, rather than supplied through a care agency — the same skilled, hands-on support, agreed and paid for without an agency margin sitting in between.
How it works
With agency care, the agency employs the carer, sets their schedule, sets the family's rate, and takes a margin on top of what the carer is actually paid. With a private carer, the family and the carer agree everything directly — the hours, the rate, the specific duties — and the money the family pays goes to the carer, not through a third party. The carer is still a genuine professional: many have years of care experience, hold enhanced DBS checks, and carry their own insurance — they're just not employed by an agency to do the work.
What a private carer typically does
• Personal care — washing, dressing, continence care, mobility support • Medication prompting or administration, as agreed with the family • Companionship and wellbeing check-ins • Light household tasks — meal prep, laundry, tidying • Accompanying to appointments or outings • Keeping the family informed through visit notes and care logs Exactly which of these a given carer covers, and to what level of need, is agreed between the family and that carer up front — it varies carer to carer, which is part of the flexibility of private care.
How families and carers stay coordinated
Because there's no agency office managing schedules and paperwork, private care relies on the family and carer keeping their own records straight — who's covering which shift, what the care plan says, what's been logged at each visit, what's owed at the end of the month. Care Companion exists to make that coordination easy without either side needing an agency to do it for them.
Whether you're looking for a private carer, or you are one, Care Companion is free to get started.
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