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Domiciliary care is another name for home care. It is support provided in your own home, either from a home care agency or a private care professional. Home care helps people who need extra support to stay in their own home for as long as possible.
You might want to consider home care if:
Home care offers a flexible option for people who need extra support in their own home. The care can be tailored to meet your individual needs. This may vary from just a few hours of help or companionship a week, to full-time live-in care if you have much greater care needs. Home carers can help with a wide range of tasks, including:
If you want to arrange care at home, there are a number of options to consider:
You might find that help with basic household tasks like cleaning, gardening or home maintenance is all that you need if you are starting to slow down. If this is the case, you may not need a professional carer. It’s worth asking around to see if friends can recommend anyone to help with these tasks.
It’s also worth contacting local branches of charities such as Age UK or the Royal Voluntary Service to find out what they offer in your area. Age UK offers a paid-for service that helps with day-to-day domestic tasks such as shopping, housework and meals.
Also check what support your local council can offer. They may provide meals on wheels, for example, or an affordable handyperson service for help with repairs and maintenance.
If you need additional support at home following a stay in hospital, the NHS may provide up to six weeks of free, temporary support called NHS Intermediate Care. This is usually care or support at home and is arranged by the hospital social work team before you’re discharged.
The best place to start is by requesting a free care needs assessment from your local authority. This will look at various aspects of your life – including physical and mental health and general wellbeing – to work out what level of support you need. It will also provide information about different kinds of help that may be available. This can include domiciliary care, adaptations to your home, equipment such as mobility aids or assistive technology, or help to pay for a care home.
You are entitled to this assessment, regardless of your financial position.
If you’re assessed as having eligible needs, the local authority will then carry out a financial assessment (or ‘means test’) to determine whether you qualify for financial support towards the cost of your care.
Even if you expect to have to pay for your own care, it’s still important to get a needs assessment. It provides a formal record of the type of support you need, and this will help a care provider to meet those needs.
If you are eligible for local authority support for home care, the council may offer to arrange the service for you – either through their own in-house home care service or, more commonly, through a commercial domiciliary care agency. Alternatively, you may be offered a personal budget, which you can use to arrange the support you need independently.
Personal budgets are designed to give people more control over the care services they use. Read more about how they work in our guide to personal budgets and direct payments.
If you’re paying for your own care, any of the home care options listed above are available to you. Choose the type of provision that’s best suited to your situation, or consider combining two or more kinds of help to create an effective support network.
See the following articles for tips on how to choose the right care provider:
Read more about different options for paying for care at home
In Northern Ireland and Scotland, personal care at home is normally free for adults who have been assessed by their local authority as needing it. This support is not means-tested, so regardless of your financial position, contact your local council (or local HSC Trust in Northern Ireland) if you think you would benefit from extra support at home. Charges may still apply for other services that are not classed as personal care, such as day care, meals and personal alarms.
To help you decide whether home care is right for you, consider the pros and cons.
Home care can support people with complex needs to continue living at home. But this doesn’t mean it is the right solution for everyone who needs extra support.
For example, you may need some help to stay independent, but don’t feel you need regular professional care at home. Alternatively, you might want the additional reassurance of knowing someone is around 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Whatever your situation, consider the other options that could supplement or take the place of daily home care.