Respite care is when someone else takes care of the person you care for, so that you can have a break. A break can give you time to do everyday activities or just to relax, deal with stress and look after yourself.

Respite care can include hourly, overnight or live-in care, depending on what you are looking for.

One of the main benefits of respite care at home is that the person needing care can remain in their own surroundings without any break in care provision. This provides consistency of care and familiar surroundings, which are particularly important for autistic people and those who have dementia.

A respite carer can support existing carers and family members by allowing them to take time off to relax, go on holiday, or attend hospital appointments among other things.

Anyone who provides care and support for someone else can organise respite care. This can be friends, family or a principal paid carer.

A respite carer allows you time off to attend to your own needs.

A respite carer usually takes over the tasks that you would normally carry out, these can include:

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

If the person needing care has any specific requirements, please make sure to discuss these with your carer of choice, who will note them in your service agreement.

Respite care can include all the different types of care that Curam carers offer. This may be:

• Hourly care
• Overnight care
• Live-in care
• Palliative and end-of-life care
• Last-minute care
• Specialist care

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. The average live-in care rate charged on Curam is £880 per week, with rates starting at £750 a week. Carer rates include our fee of 12.5% + VAT.

You pay for respite 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 placement fee of £2000. Please see our terms and conditions for more information, specifically point 9.3.

To arrange respite care on the Curam platform, you can filter by care type, condition experience, languages spoken and more in your search for a carer. If you see a particular carer that fits your criteria, send them a message asking their availability and outlining your care needs.

Alternatively, you can tell us your care requirements and carers that fit those needs will apply to your Curam account. We recommend that you call or meet your carer of choice before contracting with them. Click here for some advice on interviewing a carer.