Types of care at home
Care at home ranges from a half-hour visit once a day to a carer who lives in and is there around the clock. Most families start with visiting care, sometimes called domiciliary care, and build from there as needs change.
What "care at home" actually means
Care at home is support brought to the person, in their own home, so they don't have to move into a care home. The NHS and councils call it home care or domiciliary care; agencies sometimes call it care in the home. Whatever the label, it covers the same ground: help with washing and dressing, getting in and out of bed, medication, meals, and staying safe and company through the day.
The reason there are so many names for it is that one word has to stretch across very different arrangements. A daughter arranging a single morning visit for her dad and a family setting up a live-in carer for someone with advanced dementia are both buying "home care", but they're buying very different things. The pages in this section take each type in turn. Here's the shape of the choice.
The main types, from lightest to most
At the lighter end is visiting (domiciliary) care: a carer calls at set times, from a quick 30-minute visit to several hours a day. It's the most common form of home care and the easiest to start and stop. If the visits aren't enough, the usual next steps are overnight care (a carer who sleeps in or stays awake through the night) or live-in care, where a carer moves into a spare room and is on hand day and night.
Alongside those sit care types defined by what the person needs rather than how often the carer comes. Dementia care at home and end of life care at home both call for carers with specific training. Respite care steps in so a family carer can take a break. Reablement is short-term, goal-focused support after a hospital stay to get someone back on their feet. And nursing care at home brings in a registered nurse for things a care worker can't do, such as managing a wound or a feeding tube.
Types of home care at a glance
| Type of care | What it usually covers | Usually arranged as |
|---|---|---|
| Visiting (domiciliary) care | Personal care, medication, meals, light housework, companionship | Scheduled visits, 30 minutes to a few hours, once or several times a day |
| Overnight care | Help settling, night-time toileting, reassurance, safety | A sleeping or waking night carer |
| Live-in care | Day-to-day support plus overnight presence; a private room is needed | A carer living in the home full time |
| Respite care | Cover for a family carer having a break, at home or elsewhere | A few hours, a few days, or a block of weeks |
| Dementia care at home | Routine, memory and behaviour support from trained carers | Visiting or live-in, depending on the stage |
| End of life care at home | Comfort, symptom support and dignity in the last months or weeks | Alongside the GP, district nurses and, often, a hospice team |
| Reablement | Short-term support to regain skills and confidence after illness or hospital | Usually up to six weeks, often free and NHS- or council-led |
| Nursing care at home | Clinical tasks only a registered nurse can do | A community or agency nurse, sometimes with visiting carers too |
Sources: NHS, "Homecare: how to arrange it" (nhs.uk, accessed 2 October 2026); Age UK, care at home guidance (ageuk.org.uk, 2026).
What it costs, roughly
Price depends on the type of care, the hours, where you live and who's providing it, so the detail belongs on the cost pages. But one figure is worth knowing up front. The Homecare Association, the body that represents home care providers, sets a yearly minimum price it says councils and the NHS should pay for an hour of homecare. For April 2026 to March 2027 that figure is £34.42 an hour in England. It's built on the National Living Wage, which rose to £12.71 an hour in April 2026, plus the real costs of training, travel, waiting time and running a regulated service. London costs more.
That's the floor for state-funded care, not a price list for private visits, but it's a useful anchor: anyone quoting you well below it may be cutting corners somewhere. Live-in care is usually priced as a weekly fee rather than by the hour, which can work out cheaper than many hours of visiting care for someone who needs a lot of support.
Sources: Homecare Association, "Minimum Price for Homecare 2026/27, England" (homecareassociation.org.uk, December 2025); National Living Wage from April 2026, GOV.UK.
How home care is arranged and paid for
You don't have to go through the council, but it's usually the best first step. Anyone can ask their local council for a free needs assessment, which works out what help the person needs. If they're eligible, the council may arrange care or give money towards it; the amount they contribute depends on a separate financial assessment of savings and income. Plenty of families arrange and pay for care privately instead, either because they aren't eligible for help or because they want to choose the provider themselves.
The way this works isn't identical across the UK. In England, councils charge for home care on a means-tested basis. In Scotland, personal care at home is free for those assessed as needing it, whatever their age, through the Scottish Government's free personal care policy. Wales caps the weekly charge for non-residential care, and Northern Ireland arranges care through Health and Social Care Trusts rather than councils. The paying-for-care pages go through each of these, and the benefits that can help, in detail.
Whichever route you take, the regulator is worth a look before you commit. Providers are inspected by the Care Quality Commission in England, the Care Inspectorate in Scotland, Care Inspectorate Wales, and the RQIA in Northern Ireland, and their reports are public.
In this section
Each type of care has its own page covering what it involves, who it suits and what it costs.
Common questions
If you already know care is needed, tell us what's needed and where, and home care providers covering that postcode will contact you. It's free and there's no obligation.