Elder is an award-winning marketplace connecting families and self-employed home carers across Great Britain.
On average, services facilitated by Elder are 35% cheaper than traditional alternatives.
Whenever and however you need it, you set the scope of your service.
Pick your favourite self-employed carer from personalised matches.
Use our platform to plan and manage care from anywhere, and chat to 5* rated support teams.
Long-term 24-hour support
Temporary 24-hour support
Flexible home visits
Why 9 out of 10 elderly people would prefer to be cared for in their own home.
Live-in care means a focus solely on your loved one: care tailored to their unique needs and wants, from a familiar face, 7 days a week.
Care at home allows the elderly to preserve their independence, routines and friendships. 97% of people receiving it say it’s improved their quality of life.
Moving to a care home often causes anxiety, whilst the unfamiliar location is proven to increase the chance of life-changing falls by 50%.
All carers on Elder pass a rigorous screening which includes a background check, character and skills assessment, and verifiable professional references. Only 2% of applicants are successful. As a result, 9 out of 10 customers are very satisfied with their first carer.
Find your ideal carer
We have connected over 5000 families to carers so far.
Tell us what you’re looking for using our simple request form, and build your care profile to give us a complete picture of the care that’s needed.
You’ll start receiving profiles of your uniquely matched carers in 24 hours. Chat online to carers you’d like to know better, or arrange a phone or video call.
Use MyElder to communicate with your chosen carer and the Elder support team, manage your care schedule, and set up secure payment.
Still have questions?
0333 920 3648Every carer must pass our interview process and provide:
– At least 2 verifiable references
– Examples of at least 6 months’ experience
– An enhanced DBS certificate
As an introductory provider, we are unable to provide bespoke training. However, through our carer loyalty programme, carers who actively find work through our platform have access to a third-party online learning platform, where they can enhance their skills.
We match based on the skills and experience you tell us you need, for example, if your loved one has dementia, we’ll only match you to self-employed carers with experience of looking after someone with the condition. We consistently re-evaluate which carers we work with based on feedback from families.
We’ll always send you an introductory video of each carer you’re matched with – where they’ll tell you about their background, what they enjoy about being a carer, and their hobbies and interests.
Once you’ve chosen your carer, we’re happy to set up a virtual meeting too, such as a Zoom call so that you can get to know them better before they arrive.
We have a large nationwide network of 6000+ independent care professionals, and have connected families to carers in 123 of 124 postcode areas in Great Britain. This means we can usually get care in place within 24 to 48 hours if your needs are urgent.
Yes if the medications are non-controlled. However carers can prompt and remind, but aren’t allowed to administer controlled drugs and injections. If this is a hard requirement, it might make financial sense for you to have a nurse visit in addition to the main carer, rather than hiring a clinically-trained carer.
Yes. Every carer we work with must have a good level of written and spoken English.
If you’d prefer a carer who also speaks a second language, simply let us know.
No. We do our best to keep the number of carers that visit you to a minimum as we recognise the importance of routine and consistency to the elderly. Plus it allows them to do a better job, and they take pride in that.
Yes, many of our customers use funding from their local authority to cover all or part of their care costs. Often customers choose to receive their funding as a direct payment, so that they’re free to choose their own the carer provider, rather than the council picking one for them.
If you’ve not started the process of applying for local authority funding, we have mapped out the full process here.
If you or a loved one is living with an on-going health condition, it’s worth applying for NHS Continuing Healthcare too. If you meet the criteria, this form of funding will cover every penny of your care costs. However, bear in mind that this funding is reserved for complex conditions which may fall out of the scope of what a self-employed carer can provide.
No, you can book as little as 1 hour. However if you require a large number of hours, we offer live-in care which might suit you better. Our care advisors can explain it all, just give us a call if you’re unsure.
Elder is an introductory agency so we’re not CQC regulated. We’re here to help match and introduce you to a self-employed care professional, and help the ongoing relationship run smoothly. You can learn more about our status here.
Not having the status allows us to keep our prices affordable, and we still go to great lengths to ensure the quality of carers – as described above, as well as in our safety and trust guide.
Hillingdon
11 years
Mum just got used to Catherine when her two weeks was over. She wanted her to s...
Milton Keynes
5 years
Shayla was absolutely fantastic! We did not have a clue to start with but Shayla...
Kirklees
6 years
Sylviah has been looking after mum and dad for 6 months now, I don’t know what w...
Haringey
18 years
Barbara was a wonderful smiley and competent Carer for my father. She was calm a...
Cornwall
23 years
Alfie was great because he was kind and friendly and knew what he was doing. He ...
Bedford
22 years
Dorothy is excellent and has the measure of Mum. We are very happy with her as t...
Rotherham
10 years
Christian is very friendly and as he is a Christian he is very comparable with m...
Swale
14 years
Florance is working really well with our mother, and she's a very caring person.
Lancaster
26 years
Ester was very efficient, capable and caring, it would be lovely to have her ret...
Maidstone
19 years
A safe and easy going carer. Uses initiative and is unobtrusive. An excellent ...
Wakefield
9 years
Chris has exceeded our expectations, especially in these very difficult covid lo...
Sheffield
18 years
Marie-France has been an excellent carer. She has looked after my 93 year old Mo...
Barking and Dagenham
22 years
Ruth is an extremely experienced carer and provided a calm supportive presence w...
Greenwich
22 years
Florence was really compassionate and attentive to Mum's needs
Leeds
23 years
Lucia is always very professional in all aspects of her work. She has a lovely n...
Luton
8 years
He was one of the best carer . He knows how he can work with dementia person . I...
North Devon
9 years
Great company very calm and easy to get on with
Bromley
29 years
Huldah looked after mum after a difficult time in hospital and was always profes...
Ashford
24 years
Erdoo Joyce was very attentive to my mothers needs, communicated with us over an...
South Lanarkshire
13 years
Victoria is an outstanding carer in all respects. We are very fortunate to have ...