A private placement of care may save a family a very real sum of money per month and sometimes many hundreds of pounds per month as opposed to using an agency. It also puts more responsibility on you. No agency office checks whether a carer is trustworthy before your relative meets them, no supervisor takes over if the carer is sick, and no one but you decides whether someone is trustworthy to be in your parent's home.
This guide explains in detail how to search for a self employed carer, what to ask them before hiring them, and what a good working relationship looks like.
What a professional self employed carer actually is
A professional self employed carer works without an agency. They are paid directly by your family, and you negotiate their hours and duties directly with them. If you find your carer through SanaCarers, the vetting itself, qualifications, experience, criminal record checks, and insurance, is already handled by the platform before a carer is ever listed. If you source someone another way, through word of mouth or a local Facebook group for example, that vetting responsibility sits with you instead.
The appeal is simple. Agencies usually charge £25 to £32 per hour including margin, and a professional self employed carer typically charges £19 to £25 per hour. That difference can cost thousands of pounds over a year of regular care.
The trade off is smaller than it looks if you go through a platform that has already done the groundwork. With SanaCarers, cover for sickness and holiday is built into how the platform works, so the responsibility that would normally fall entirely on you is shared with the platform itself.
Where to actually find a professional self employed carer
Word of mouth still works – it can be through a local carer group, community centre or GP surgery noticeboard – but it has its limitations as it only reaches people who are available locally at the time.
Many more choices with a dedicated platform, and filtering by postcode, experience, the type of care required, dementia experience, mobility support, medication management and more. SanaCarers lets you search for carers by postcode, read verified experience and qualifications, and message a carer directly before you agree to anything.
Local Facebook groups for carers also exist largely everywhere, and the only thing that matters is whether they have been vetted or not – though there is no verification system behind who posts in those groups.
The vetting checklist
If you find a carer through SanaCarers, this is already done for you: carers are interviewed, KYC checked, and have their insurance and legal status verified before they are ever listed. If you are sourcing someone another way, word of mouth or a local Facebook group for example, this is the checklist to work through yourself before anyone starts unsupervised work in your relative's home:
1. An enhanced DBS check, dated within the last twelve months. This is the single most important document, and a genuine carer will have no issue providing it.
2. At least two references from previous families or care roles, and actually call them rather than just reading what is written down.
3. Proof of any relevant qualifications, such as a Care Certificate, moving and handling training, or medication administration training if your relative needs it.
4. Public liability insurance, which protects your family if something goes wrong while they are working in the home.
5. Right to work documentation, confirming they are legally permitted to work in the UK.
6. A basic first aid certificate, ideally current, particularly if your relative has any condition that could require emergency response.
If a carer is reluctant to provide any of these, treat that as your answer. A genuine self employed carer expects to be asked.
Interview questions worth asking
A short call through the SanaCarers messaging feature, before meeting in person, saves everyone time. There is no need to exchange personal phone numbers, all of this can be done directly through the platform. A few questions that tell you more than a CV ever will:
• What would you do if my relative refused their medication?
• Have you worked with someone who has dementia, or the specific condition my relative has?
• What happens if you are unwell on a day you are due to work?
• Can you describe a difficult situation with a previous client and how you handled it?
• What are your rates for weekday, weekend, night shift, and bank holiday hours?
Listen for specific answers rather than general reassurance. A carer who says “I would stay calm and try a different approach later” is giving you more useful information than one who simply says “I always know what to do.”
Meeting your relative
Once a carer has passed the vetting stage, book their first visit as a short session rather than committing straight away to a full regular schedule. Payment is required to confirm any booking on SanaCarers, but keeping that first visit brief still gives you a genuine sense of whether they are the right fit before you commit to anything longer.
Pay attention to small details during this visit: do they speak to your relative directly rather than only to you, do they ask before touching personal belongings, do they seem rushed, or are they genuinely present for your relative. This tells you more than any reference check.
What a fair working arrangement includes
Even for informal, self employed care, put the basics in writing. If you book through SanaCarers, much of this is already captured in the agreement you complete on the platform. Either way, a simple written agreement should cover:
1. Agreed hours and days, including how to request a change at short notice. On SanaCarers, schedule changes can be raised directly with your carer through the platform, so this does not need to sit outside the agreement.
2. The hourly rate, and any different rate for weekends, evenings, or bank holidays.
3. Specific duties expected, personal care, meal preparation, medication prompts, companionship, so nothing is assumed.
4. Notice period if either party wants to end the arrangement. On SanaCarers, the client sets the expected duration of care when the arrangement is first agreed, so this is usually clear from the start rather than something negotiated separately later.
5. What happens if the carer is unwell. On SanaCarers, cover for unavailable carers is built into the platform via the carer’s team members arrangements, though it is still worth asking each carer directly whether they have their own cover arrangement for sickness or holiday, so you know what to expect from day one.
6. Payment runs through the SanaCarers platform. Once both parties agree to the arrangement, payment is held in escrow and only released once the carer has completed the agreed care and the client has approved the invoice. This protects both sides and removes the need to handle payment privately.
SanaCarers generates a legal contract automatically once both parties finalise their agreement on the platform, so you do not need to draft one yourselves. This removes the awkwardness of having these conversations after a problem has already happened rather than before one does.
Building in backup
The biggest practical risk with an informal, entirely private arrangement is what happens when your carer is sick, on holiday, or simply unavailable at short notice.
On SanaCarers, this is less of a gap than it would be with a single independently sourced carer. Cover for unavailable carers is built into how the platform works via the carer’s team, the only thing you need to ask is if your carer has a team member that will cover in case of absence so you are not left starting from zero if your regular carer cannot make a shift.
A quick example
Say your relative needs four hours a day, seven days a week, 28 hours a week in total. Through a managed agency, the Homecare Association's 2026/27 minimum price for homecare is £34.42 an hour nationally, rising to £38.69 an hour in London, which works out to roughly £964 a week nationally or up to £1,083 a week in London.
These are national benchmarks, not what you will necessarily pay. Rates shift by region, by the level of need, and by demand at the time you are searching, so use SanaCarers' own rate estimator to get a live, postcode specific figure for your area before you budget against these numbers.
Common questions
Do I need to handle tax for a self employed carer?
No. Payment runs through the SanaCarers platform, which provides receipts and records for both sides. The carer can use these to work out their tax liability with their own accountant. This does not affect you as the client.
What if something goes wrong during a shift?
This is less of a concern than it would be with an informal private hire. All professional self employed carers on SanaCarers are vetted and insured before they can take on a job, so this is confirmed before you ever meet them.
Can I hire more than one self employed carer at once?
Yes, and some families still prefer it, particularly for a regular day and night split. With SanaCarers' built in cover for unavailability, though, you do not need to manage two or three carers purely as a backup measure, that part is largely handled for you.
Where to start
Do the vetting properly and put the basics in writing. With cover already built into how SanaCarers works, you are not starting from nothing if your regular carer is ever unavailable.
If you are ready to start looking, search for vetted self employed carers by postcode on SanaCarers, check their experience and references, and message a few directly before arranging a trial visit.
