Hire a specialist hourly home carer
Pauline is a truly outstanding carer, bringing new meaning to “beyond the call of duty”. She is unbelievably kind and patient...”
Cinzia is absolutely amazing and so good with my mum. From the very first moment she arrived, my was very comfortable with her. V...”
Gaye has supported mum every step of the way particularly dealing with a nasty fall and transitioning to and from care homes. Help...”
Personally interviewed
DBS & Biometric ID checked
Fully insured
Companionship, cooking, housekeeping, medical prompting
Moving and handling, exercise, eating and drinking assistance
Early stage dementia, physical disabilities, late stage dementia
Personal care, dressing/undressing, bathroom assistance
Hourly care gives you the flexibility and security of home assistance when you need it — and your independence when you don’t. Visiting carers can stop by to take you to a doctor’s appointment or complete a chore, or they can visit on a regular basis to help you stay healthy, happy and secure. Curam’s experienced hourly carers provide specialist support to meet your needs throughout the UK.
With a visiting carer, you can continue living a fulfilling life in your own home. They can support you in numerous ways:
Hourly care can be as simple as an occasional visit from a carer for a chat, or as complex as a schedule of daily visits for long-term needs. Curam can connect you with hourly carers to meet your specific needs.
For those who require more complex care, learn more about live-in care and overnight care.
While live-in care may be right for those with complex care needs, hourly care is a great option for many with care needs that can be met at home on a certain schedule. Hourly care can also allow your relationship with a carer to blossom over time.
Visiting care can help in many ways:
Enable you to remain living independently or with family
Maintain your privacy and existing schedule
Provide care when you need it, and not when you don’t
Help you to keep in contact with your family, friends and community
There are also tangible physical and mental health benefits to hourly care at home. Being able to maintain your social network and keep up with your favourite hobbies while being cared for is very beneficial to your mental well-being. Physical health benefits include reducing the risk of falling and the likelihood of being housebound.
Hourly home care is the most cost-effective kind of care for those who need support but would like to maintain their independence.
Arranging hourly visits gives you the flexibility to receive your care at home when you want it. Unlike live-in care, hourly care gives you the personal freedom of living alone or with your family, and only seeing your carer when you need them.
If you have family or friends that otherwise provide care or help you around the house, hourly care can be a great solution for when you need care that doesn’t fit into their schedules. With Curam, you can hire an hourly carer of your choice and build a relationship with them over time.
Hourly care at home is a popular choice for those who wish to remain in their own home and stay independent while receiving the support and care that they need.
If you have care needs that can be met at home, but aren’t so complex that you need 24/7 assistance, hourly care may be right for you. This includes those who need home care due to mobility issues and conditions such as arthritis, or those who are recovering from a stroke or recent hospital stay.
Carers will fulfil the tasks agreed to in their service agreement. These tasks can range from personal care to domestic tasks and chores including shopping, laundry, meal preparation and transport. The focus is on making sure you feel safe, independent and cared for through your regular routines.
Hourly care is tailored to you. Carers on the Curam platform provide many different kinds of care:
Respite care while your regular carer goes on holiday
Palliative and any other specialist care type needed, including following a hospital discharge or following a stroke
If you have pets, there are carers that can help to look after them. Many carers also drive their own vehicles and can help you with transport or accompany you as you need.
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:
Hiring a carer through Curam is a 4 step easy process with you having all the control.
Filter and search for verified carers near you
Message suitable carers - we suggest a minimum of three to give you the best choice
Hire your insured and vetted carer via Curam - you only pay for the care delivered
Alternatively, in an emergency or if you need care for a specific period of time Share your care needs' with our carers
Our self-employed carers set their own rates on the Curam platform. The cost of hourly care is often determined by the level of care required, the number of people needing care and the total hours per week. These rates can vary according to the carer’s experience and qualifications.
For those who need more support than what they can get with hourly care, live-in care and overnight care at home may better suit their needs.
The average hourly care rate charged by carers on Curam is £18.30 per hour, with rates starting at £13 an hour. Rates vary depending on where you live in the UK.
Invoices are also subject to the Curam client fee of 10% and VAT. However, this client fee may be lower or waived for our business partners or those receiving local authority or NHS funding for their care. Please email client@curamcare.com to learn more about your costs with Curam.
With Curam you pay less but your carer earns more
Clients on the Curam platform pay on average 22% less than the current suggested UK Home Care Association hourly rate of £25.95
You can pay for hourly home care privately, with assistance from the NHS or local authority, or from a combination of different sources.
Most people who pursue care at home will pay for it privately. However, you may be able to get funding to help pay for your 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
1Check your eligibility for NHS continuing healthcare funding
2Apply for local authority funding
3If you still have difficulty funding your own care after checking the above services, you may consider other options such as equity release.
According to the NHS, you might be eligible for local council support towards the cost of your social care if you have less than £23,250 in savings (called the upper capital limit, or UCL). From October 2023 this will ris
Exactly how much your council will pay depends on what care you need and how much you can afford to pay.
The first step is for your council to do an assessment to check how much help you need. This is called a needs assessment. The needs assessment is free and anyone can ask for one. Find out more about getting a needs assessment.
Some people with long-term complex health needs qualify for free social care arranged and funded solely by the NHS. This is known as NHS continuing healthcare.
To be eligible for NHS continuing healthcare, you must be assessed by a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals. The team will look at all your care needs and relate them to:
Your eligibility for NHS continuing healthcare depends on your assessed needs, and not on any particular diagnosis or condition. If your needs change then your eligibility for NHS continuing healthcare may change.
With Curam, you pay for care through 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 two working days after the end of the shift, minus the Curam fee. Shift invoices typically cover one to two weeks of care at a time, but specific payment frequency can be agreed with your carer.
Off-platform and cash payments are not accepted. These are liable to a penalty fee of £2,000. Please see our terms and conditions for more information, specifically point 9.3.
We know that hiring a carer is an emotionally charged decision, so we’ve done everything we can to make it as safe, seamless and stress-free as possible.
Choice is at the heart of Curam. By connecting carers and those who need care, we enable people to take control of their lives.
We’ve made it possible to hire a carer within a matter of hours. With Curam you can search, interview, message, hire and pay approved and vetted carers throughout the UK.
We are building a care community that allows each of us to live an independent life.
Curam is a community of experts. Every carer on Curam’s platform has been interviewed and fully vetted by our recruitment team. They have had a DBS check, are legally entitled to work in the UK and any qualifications mentioned on their profile are backed up with certificates.
Curam does things differently. Unlike care agencies, we make sure the choice of care is in your hands. You can interview carers personally before hiring them and have a final say on what their responsibilities will be in your home.
Our carers are self-employed. Their Curam fee covers the cost of their insurance, easy-to-use service agreements and a hassle-free payment system. This means that the client pays less than they would with an agency, and the carer in turn receives a higher wage.
In-home care with Curam respects independence. It is tailored to each individual while allowing them to live in the comfort of their own home. Receiving care at home can be a safer and more cost-effective alternative to a care home.
To arrange care on the Curam platform, create an account . By adding relevant details including your postcode, your care requirements, your gender preference for carers and more detail as needed, carers that fit your demonstrated needs will then apply to your Curam account.
We recommend that you call or meet your carer of choice before contracting with them. Read our advice on interviewing a potential carer.
Alternatively, you can use our search tool to find a carer that suits your needs. You can filter by care type, condition, experience, languages spoken and more in your search. If you see a particular carer that fits your criteria, send them a message outlining your care needs and checking their availability.
All carers can be tried on a trial basis and any specific arrangement can be changed or cancelled with a minimum notice of 48 hours.
Please note that Curam does not provide managed care. It’s critical to our mission that both the client and the carer have choice and control over their care relationship.
Hourly care is just that: hourly. You and your visiting carer can decide on a regular schedule that suits your needs, whether that be every weekday afternoon for several hours at a time, or only for a few hours once a week.
If you are seeking part-time care from one care professional, your carer will likely have other clients they see during other shifts throughout the week, and will not be able to assist you outside of your agreed schedule. You can seek to work with other carers in a rotation, or arrange for one-off visits as needed.
Hourly carers are often sought after at the same few times a day, so those who are more flexible in their care times will find they have more available carers to choose from. If your care needs are concentrated at night or exceed 8 hours per day, overnight care or live-in care may be better suited to your needs.
Depending on your needs, the responsibilities of your hourly carer may include meal planning, grocery shopping and preparing meals. In these instances, most people pay for the meals that the carer prepares or eats during their time in their client’s home.
However, many hourly carers will not spend enough time in your home and will eat on their own time outside of their shift. Expectations around food can be agreed in the service agreement.
Many hourly carers are comfortable helping with or managing an array of household chores that fit into their care schedule with you, including laundry, basic cleaning, gardening, mail and email management, taking out the rubbish, grocery shopping, running errands, preparing meals and more. These expectations around housework can be agreed upon in the service agreement.
While hourly carers are not professional cleaners, they are often happy to do basic household cleaning chores during their shifts such as vacuuming, wiping down counters and cleaning up after their client. Expectations around cleaning can be agreed in the service agreement.
Full choice over who provides care
Get a carers for your care needs
You can join for free, no tie-in contracts.
Hours of high quality
care delivered
Experienced &
vetted carers
people hired
carers successfully
Average experience
of a Curam carer
Average number
of applications
Average response
time from carers
Finding and managing your carer is much easier on our Curam client app. Lots of new features including digital health care plans and family sharing apps coming very soon.
per hour
per hour
per hour
For hourly care you will pay £4.30 less than the average agency rate.
All rates are negotiable.
Carers set their own rates.
10% Curam fees
