Private Carer or Regulated Home Care: What Should Families Consider?

All three columns describe lawful arrangements. The question is simply who carries each responsibility: you, the carer, or the provider.

Sources: CQC scope of registration guidance and gov.uk employment guidance, checked June 2026. Individual arrangements vary.

Gov.uk is clear: if you pay a carer directly and they are not genuinely self-employed, you become their employer, even if the money comes from council direct payments or the NHS. That brings real duties, all manageable, but worth knowing in advance:

• A written employment contract and payslips
• At least the National Living Wage, £12.71 an hour for those 21 and over from April 2026
• Registering with HMRC and running payroll, with Income Tax and National Insurance deducted, even if you pay cash
• 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, statutory sick pay and a workplace pension
• Employers liability insurance, legally required at a minimum of £5 million cover, with fines of up to £2,500 a day without it (close family members you employ are an exception)
• A right-to-work check

Two more points families often miss. You cannot ask an employee to become self-employed; whether a carer is genuinely self-employed depends on the real working relationship, not the label, and HMRC provides a free employment status tool to check. And while you cannot apply for a DBS check on a private carer yourself, since January 2026 they can obtain an enhanced check on themselves through an umbrella body and show you the original certificate, which is well worth asking for.

The honest case for a private carer

A directly employed carer can cost less per hour, and many families value having one consistent person and a direct relationship without an organisation in between. For families who are comfortable carrying the employment duties above, and who plan for cover and checks, it can work very well. The risks are not in the model itself; they are in taking it on without knowing what it involves.

A CQC-registered provider is inspected against national regulations that require a registered manager, safe care and safeguarding procedures, fit-and-proper recruitment including criminal record checks, ongoing training and supervision, good governance, a formal complaints process and a duty of candour when things go wrong. In short, the structure around the carer is somebody’s legal job.

That structure is what the difference in price pays for. With Starling Homecare, visits start from 30 minutes, from £34, with no hidden fees, and live-in care from £255 a day. Regulated home care is VAT exempt, and every family receives a written quote before anything begins. Our care funding guide explains the help available with the cost.

For a private carer: Are you genuinely self-employed, and have you checked with HMRC’s status tool? May I see an enhanced DBS certificate (possible since January 2026)? What insurance do you carry? What happens when you are ill or on holiday? What training have you had, and how is it kept current?

For an introduction agency: Exactly which checks do you verify before introducing a carer? What does your fee cover, and is there a further fee for a replacement? Where does your role end once the introduction is made?

For a regulated provider, including us: our guide to the questions to ask any home care provider sets out all thirteen, with what good answers sound like.

We help families think this through across St Albans, Harpenden, Radlett and Shenley, Berkhamsted, Tring and Hemel Hempstead, and the villages around them, from Redbourn and Wheathampstead to Aldbury and Kings Langley. The conversation is free, and our advice is honest, including when a private arrangement may genuinely suit your family better.