Hourly care refers to home care visits by a carer according to the requirements of the person needing care. The hours can be fixed, for example to accompany someone to a medical appointment, or ongoing, for example daily visits for medication prompting or personal care.

Arranging hourly visits gives you the flexibility to receive your care at home when you want it. It can give families the peace of mind that the person needing care is getting looked after when they need it.

With Curam you can hire the carer of your choice consistently and build a relationship over time.

Carers are self-employed and set their own rates on our platform. The cost of care is often determined by the level of care required. Their rates vary according to the carer’s location, experience and qualifications. 

The average hourly care rate charged by carers on Curam is £16 per hour, with rates starting at £13 an hour. Carer rates include our fee of 12.5% + VAT.

You pay for hourly care though a secure payment system on our app or website. Your carer of choice will create a service agreement and shift invoice which will automatically be sent to your Curam account for your approval. Once you have approved these, you will be taken to the payment portal. Your payment is held securely until the shift is completed and is then released to the carer 2 working days after the end of the shift, minus our fee.

Off-platform and cash payments are not accepted and are liable to a recruitment fee of £2000. Please see our terms and conditions for more information, specifically point 9.3.

Yes, you can often get funding to help pay for hourly care. There are three steps that you can follow to ensure that you receive all the money to which you are entitled.

• Check your eligibility for benefits with a benefits calculator
• Check your eligibility for NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding
• Apply for Local Authority Funding

If, after following these steps you still have difficulty funding your own care, you may consider other options such as Equity Release

A carer looks after the person needing care according to the tasks agreed in the service agreement. Some of the tasks that an hourly carer might normally carry out are:

• Personal care, including: preparing, serving and feeding food or drink, bathing, dressing, moving and handling
• Prompting clients to take prescribed medicines
• Administering first aid
• Preventing falls and accidents at home
• General domestic duties including: shopping, basic maintenance and gardening tasks
• Accompanying clients on any social, domestic or recreational trips outside of their home

Yes this is possible to arrange with a rota of different hourly carers, but a simpler and more cost-effective way is to engage a live-in carer.

You have two options with Curam: ' Search for carers in your area' and message, contact and agree terms or 'tell us your care requirements' and approved carers that fit those needs will apply to your account for the role