Respite Care at Home

What is respite care at home?

Respite care is temporary care that takes over from the person who normally provides it, so that they can have a break. In almost every case that person is family: a husband or wife, a son or daughter, sometimes a neighbour who has quietly become the main support. Respite at home means the cover happens in the person's own house, with their own routine, rather than them going into a care home for a week.

That distinction matters more than it sounds. Residential respite means packing a bag, sleeping somewhere unfamiliar, and coming home unsettled, which for anyone with dementia can undo weeks of stability. At-home respite changes only one thing: who is doing the caring. The bed, the chair, the kettle, the view out of the window, and the daily rhythm all stay the same.

It can last a few hours, a day, a week, or longer. Some families book a fixed afternoon every week, which is the version that tends to be most sustainable. Others use it for a fortnight's holiday, or in an emergency when the family carer is themselves ill.

When do families use respite care?

The most common reason is simply a holiday, and it is worth saying clearly that this is a legitimate reason on its own. You do not have to justify it with a crisis. Other families use respite when the main carer has an operation or a hospital appointment of their own, which is the situation people plan for least and need most.

A regular weekly break is the pattern we would gently encourage, because it is preventive rather than reactive. Caring is relentless in a way that is hard to see from inside it, and the carers who last are almost always the ones who built a break into the week early, rather than the ones who carried on until something gave way.

Respite is also useful as a trial. If you are wondering whether outside help would work at all, a few days of respite is a low-commitment way to find out, for you and for the person you care for. Many of our long-standing arrangements began as a week of cover while a daughter went away.

If guilt is the thing stopping you, and for most people it is, it may help to reframe it. Taking a break is not stepping away from the caring; it is what makes carrying on possible. A rested carer is a better carer, and the person you look after almost certainly does not want their care to cost you your health.

What does respite care at home cover?

In principle, everything you normally do. The point of respite is that you can leave without holding a mental list of things that will not get done. A care plan is written before the cover starts, so the carer arrives knowing the routine rather than working it out as they go.

• Personal care: washing, dressing, continence support, and help to move safely.
• Medication: prompting or administering, exactly as set out in the plan.
• Meals and drinks, cooked to the preferences the person actually has.
• Company and conversation, so the days are not simply supervised.
• Household routine: laundry, tidying, and keeping the house running normally.
• Overnight cover, either sleeping or waking, where nights are part of the need.
• Getting out: appointments, walks, and the usual weekly fixtures.

How do you arrange respite care?

There are two routes, and they run at very different speeds. Arranging it privately is quick: a free home visit, a care plan agreed, and cover in place usually within days. That is the route most families take when a date is already in the diary, and the only one that works for an emergency.

The council route takes longer but may reduce or remove the cost. It starts with a free care needs assessment for the person you care for, which looks at what support they need regardless of savings. The step families miss is the second one: you, as the carer, are entitled to your own free Carer's Assessment, which looks at your needs rather than theirs. That assessment is specifically where respite gets discussed, and it can lead to funded breaks or a direct payment you use to buy cover yourself.

Ask for both assessments at the same time, and ask early. Waiting lists are real, and it is far easier to have the conversation before you are exhausted. Our step-by-step guide on how to arrange home care covers the whole process for either route.

How is respite care funded?

If the carer's assessment or the needs assessment identifies eligible needs, your council may fund some or all of the respite, often as a personal budget you can take as a direct payment. That gives you the choice of provider rather than having one allocated, which most families prefer. Councils in England apply capital thresholds of £23,250 and £14,250 when working out contributions, and those apply to the person receiving care, not to you.

Attendance Allowance is worth checking separately. It is not means-tested, it does not depend on National Insurance contributions, and many people who qualify never claim it. Carer's Allowance may also apply to you if you provide substantial care and meet the earnings conditions. Neither is affected by the fact that some care is bought in.

Privately funded respite is charged like any other visiting or live-in care, so hourly cover uses the usual rate and a full week of live-in respite is charged weekly. Ours starts from £26 an hour, with live-in and overnight rates confirmed after a free home visit. Our costs and funding page sets out every route, and our guide to paying for home care goes into each in more detail.

How do you make the handover work?

The difference between a break that restores you and one you spend on the phone is almost entirely in the handover. Write things down before you go, even the things that feel too small or too obvious to mention, because those are exactly the details that make the day go smoothly: which mug, which side of the bed, the name of the cat, the programme that must not be missed, the neighbour who calls on Tuesdays.

Ask the provider for continuity. Meeting the carer beforehand, ideally with a short shadowing visit while you are still there, turns a stranger into a familiar face and lets you see how they work. For anyone with dementia this is not a nicety, it is the difference between a settled week and an unsettled one. Ask what happens if that carer is unwell, and expect a clear answer about named cover rather than a vague reassurance.

Then agree how you want to be contacted. Some families want a short message each evening; others genuinely do not want to hear anything unless something is wrong. Say which, because a provider cannot guess, and being unclear about it is how people end up checking their phone all week.

Talk to us about respite

We are a CQC-registered, locally run home care provider based in Croydon, supporting families across Croydon, Purley, Thornton Heath, New Addington, Bromley, Beckenham, and Orpington. We cover respite from a few hours a week up to full live-in cover, and urgent calls are answered around the clock through our on-call line.

If you are reading this while putting off a break you know you need, start with a free home visit. There is no obligation and no minimum booking, and it is a great deal easier to arrange cover now than in the week you fall ill.