With hourly carers the record almost writes itself: they arrive, they do the call, they leave. A live-in carer is simply there, and because they are there, nothing gets written down. Weeks pass with no note of what was done, what was given, how the person was, or when the carer actually worked and when they rested. Then the carer goes on their fortnight off, a replacement arrives, and the family discovers how much lived only in one person's head. This page is about keeping a live-in arrangement on the record.
Employed by you. You recruit the carer, agree hours and pay, run PAYE and hold the employer duties. Most direct payment live-in arrangements look like this.
Self-employed. The carer works for several families on rotation, invoices you and manages their own tax. Genuine self-employment depends on how the work runs, not on the label.
Through an introductory agency. The agency finds and vets the carer; you are still the one who directs the work and often the employer in law.
Whichever it is, the record the family needs is the same: when the carer worked, what was done, what was given, and how the person was.
A live-in carer is not working 24 hours a day, and the law does not allow them to. A typical arrangement is a working day of eight to ten hours spread across the day, a daily break of two hours or more, and nights that are either undisturbed or paid as waking or sleep-in nights under separate rules. The National Minimum Wage applies to the hours that count as work, which is why the hours need writing down. A family that cannot say how many hours its live-in carer worked last month cannot show it paid them lawfully.
The practical answer is to plan the day as calls: a morning call, a lunch call, an afternoon, a tea call, a bed call, with the break between. The carer is on the record for the calls, and the break is a break.
Each call carries a note: what was done, what was eaten, how the person seemed, anything to watch. A fall or a near fall is written the moment it happens, not remembered at the weekend. Fluids, if they matter, are counted. Skin, if it matters, is looked at and noted. None of this takes more than a minute at the end of each call, and together it is the diary a GP, a district nurse or a hospital will ask for.
Most live-in carers work a rotation: two weeks on and two off, or four and two, with a second carer covering. The handover between them is where live-in care breaks. The outgoing carer knows the routine, the moods, the medicines and the small things that keep the day calm. If that knowledge is not written down, the incoming carer starts from nothing, and the person being cared for pays for it in a bad week.
A record that both carers write into solves this without a handover meeting. The incoming carer reads the last two weeks before they arrive. The family reads both.
With one carer in the house, the medication chart is often skipped because "she knows". She does, until she is on her fortnight off. A medication administration record, every medicine with its dose and times, every dose recorded as given, prompted, refused or not required, is what lets the replacement carer continue without a missed or doubled dose, and what lets the family answer a doctor's question in a minute.
The day planned as calls. Set the live-in day as a pattern of calls with the break between. The carer checks in and out of each call in the Carelo app, so the hours worked are a record rather than a guess, and the break is visibly a break.
Both rotation carers on the household. Each sees their own weeks in the app. The rota shows the changeover days, and the incoming carer reads every note the outgoing one wrote.
Notes at every call. What was done and seen, written before check-out, in a diary that holds every note about your loved one and can be read by date or by carer.
Medication, dose by dose. Every medicine listed once; every dose recorded with the carer's initials; the MAR chart there the same day and printable for the GP.
The family sees the day. A son or daughter who lives elsewhere sees today's calls as they happen, every note and the medication log in the family app, and can message the household.
Hours for pay. Hours per carer for the rotation come from the check-ins and export as a timesheet for your payroll service.
Checking in and out of each planned call is what turns a day in the house into a record of hours worked and tasks done. It takes seconds and it is what separates work from rest for pay purposes.
Yes. The app works the same for any carer you add, employed or not. The hours it records are useful for checking their invoice.
Only if you share it. The record belongs to your household.
Plan a waking night as a call if the carer is working through it, so it is recorded and paid as such. An undisturbed night is not a call. If the carer is woken, a note on the next call says so.
£30 a month per household, or £288 a year with 20% off, for up to three loved ones and fifteen carers. Fourteen days free, no VAT added, cancel any time.
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