Home Care Costs | How Much Is Home Care In 2024?

The average cost of domiciliary care (also known as hourly care) is £28 per hour. If you needed five hours of care per week, this would cost £140 each week and £607 each month. Another popular type of home care is live-in care, which costs an average of £228 per day.

Exact home care costs in the UK vary, depending on the type and level of care needed, the number of hours required and where you live. We’ve explained home care costs below across several different types, along with whether you’ll pay and funding support available. We also have an article explaining care home costs in 2024.

Home care is a popular alternative to a care home, as you'll stay in the comfort of your own home while receiving support, often with daily tasks and personal care.

Article and Figures Last Updated: December 2024

In this article:

1. Home care costs in 2024
   1. Hourly home care costs
   2. Live-in care costs
   3. Overnight home care costs
2. Who pays for home care?
3. Different ways to pay for home care as a self-funder
4. Find home care near you

Home Care Costs in 2024

We’ve summarised the average costs of different types of home care below, based on our internal data. These costs will vary, depending on where in the UK you receive care and the extent of your care needs:

Source: Lottie's internal data, based on the home care providers we're partnered with.

Hourly home care costs

Hourly home care (also known as domiciliary care or visiting care) costs £28 per hour on average. For example, if you’re receiving 5 hours of care per week, this comes to around £140 a week, £607 a month and £7,280 a year.

Through hourly home care, a carer will provide whatever support is needed within your home. This is perfect if you wish to continue living independently and you don’t require a live-in carer. Here, you’re able to choose how much support is given. It could be as little as 30 minutes a day, or several multiple-hour visits each week.

Hourly home care can cover things like companionship and personal care.

Every year, the Homecare Association calculates the minimum amount that local authorities should pay to home care agencies for domiciliary care services. For 2024/2025, this rate is £28.53 an hour. While these rates are aimed at local authorities, they still provide a useful indication of how much you can expect to pay for hourly home care.

Live-in care costs

Live-in care costs £228 per day on average, which is £1,596 a week, £6,916 a month, and £82,992 a year.

Through live-in care, a fully trained carer will come and live in your home, meaning they’ll be on hand 24/7 to provide whatever care and support is needed. Regular home care often progresses to live-in care when extra support is required.

Live-in care can include support such as palliative home care or end-of-life care, dementia care, nursing care and personal care. It’s sometimes provided on a short-term basis, such as when the usual carer needs to take a break from their caregiving duties.

Overnight home care costs

Overnight care costs an average of £187 per night for sleeping care and £244 per night for waking care. If you're receiving overnight sleeping care seven days a week, this would cost around £1,309 a week, £5,672 a month and £68,068 a year, while overnight waking care would cost around £1,708 a week, £7,401 a month and £88,816 a year.

Overnight care is when a carer stays in your home overnight, to assist with any health needs or emergencies. This is also useful for people who feel anxious by themselves during the early hours.

A waking night carer will be on-call to look after your loved one throughout the night, while a sleeping night carer will also be available, but for a limited number of occasions, which is why waking overnight care is slightly more expensive.

Overnight home care is often included with live-in care. Here, a separate carer may take over while your full-time live-in carer gets a good night’s sleep.

Overnight home care may include types of support such as companionship care, dementia care, nursing care and personal care.

Who Pays For Home Care?

Whether you’ll pay for home care depends on how much you have in savings and income.

Following a care needs assessment, your local council will carry out a financial assessment to determine the value of your savings and income. The value of your property isn't taken into account for a home care financial assessment.

If your savings are above your country’s upper threshold, you’ll be required to self-fund some or all of your care. If your savings are below the lower threshold, you’ll be eligible for the maximum support from your local council. If your savings fall between these two thresholds, you’ll be eligible for partial support from your local council. There aren’t lower thresholds in Scotland and Wales, so if your savings are below the upper threshold, you’ll also qualify for the maximum level of support.

Here are the UK 2024/2025 savings thresholds for home care fees:

Self-funding

If your savings and income are greater than £23,250 in England or Northern Ireland, and £24,000 in Wales, you won’t be eligible for local authority support and will need to self-fund your home care.

You can only be charged a maximum of £100 per week for home care in Wales, regardless of how much the service you require will cost. The minimum income amount in Wales also means you need to be left with at least £39.50 a week to spend however you wish.

Everybody in Scotland receives free personal and nursing care (£248.70 a week for personal care and/or £111.90 a week for nursing care) if they're assessed as needing it through a care needs assessment. When paying for home care in Scotland, councils are recommended to disregard the first £10,000 of someone's savings if they're over the State Pension age, and the first £6,000 if they're under it. This person will then make a weekly tariff contribution towards their home care, based on the rest of their savings. If you’re over the State Pension age, this will be £1 for every £500 you have above the £10,000 threshold. If you’re under the State Pension age, this will be £1 for every £250 you have above the £6,000 threshold.

If you're classed as a self-funder and all your eligible income is taken into account during the financial assessment, you must be left with an income of at least £228.70 a week. This is known as the Minimum Income Guarantee. This applies if you're single and have reached the State Pension age.

As a self-funder, you can:

• Arrange and pay for home care yourself, without getting your local council involved
• Ask your local council to arrange and pay for your care. In this case, the council will send you a bill. However, not all councils offer this service, and some charge for it

Local authority funding

Currently, if your savings are less than £23,250 in England or Northern Ireland, and £24,000 in Wales, you’ll qualify for some level of financial assistance from your local council. How much this is depends on whether your savings fall below the upper or lower threshold.

In England and Northern Ireland, if you have between £23,250 and £14,250, you and your local authority will both pay for some of your care. If it's less than £14,250, your local authority will make a maximum contribution.

In Wales, if you have less than £24,000 in savings, your local authority will pay for your home care. However, if you have an income, this will be considered when working out if you need to contribute to the cost of your home care.

While your home care will be paid for in Scotland by your local authority, you may still need to make a contribution, depending on how much savings you have above the £10,000 or £6,000 threshold.

If your home care is funded by the local authority, you’ll be given a personal budget. Your personal budget can take any of the following forms (or a combination of them):

• A payment made directly into your bank account to be spent on your home care
• Your local council arranges your home care and directly pays the provider
• A relevant organisation of your choice manages your personal budget

NHS funding

If you have long-term and complex healthcare needs, you may also be eligible for funding support through the NHS. This is known as NHS Continuing Healthcare. Here, the NHS will arrange and entirely fund your home care. Scotland has Hospital Based Complex Clinical Care instead, which is very similar to NHS Continuing Healthcare.

To be eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare, you’ll need to be assessed by a team of healthcare professionals. During this assessment, they’ll consider:

• The help you require
• How complex and intense your needs are
• How unpredictable your needs are, particularly any health risks if the right care isn’t provided

Different Ways to Pay For Home Care As A Self-Funder

• Using your personal savings and income

• Attendance Allowance (if you’re over the State Pension age) and Personal Independence Payment (if you’re below the State Pension age)

• An immediate needs annuity. This provides a guaranteed income specifically to cover care costs

• Sale-and-rent-back schemes

• Releasing money from your home (known as equity release)

• Downsizing (moving from your current home to a smaller property)

• Deferred payment schemes, where your local authority covers care costs upfront, with the understanding that they’ll be paid back when your home is sold (not all local authorities offer this)