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.
Central Bedfordshire
35 years
Shelia was a very experienced carer and she easily got on with her job my mum es...
Sandwell
13 years
She settled Dad very quickly when she arrived and gave him her full attention. S...
Kirklees
16 years
Sibo is an excellent carer. She is very competent and compassionate. As well as ...
Brent
10 years
Anyone would be lucky to have Lucia look after their relative. My father was ca...
Hillingdon
11 years
Mum just got used to Catherine when her two weeks was over. She wanted her to s...
Richmond upon Thames
10 years
Carmen is the best carer Mum has ever had, wish we had found her earlier. Such a...
North East Derbyshire
10 years
Pauline is great. We got off to a shaky start until we discussed in more detail ...
Maidstone
16 years
Tafadzwa was with us for only a couple of days to provide cover but she made a v...
Enfield
18 years
A very kind, calm and compassionate Woman. Gertrude puts the client first and i...
Preston
25 years
Juliet is wonderful. We, as a family are so fortunate to have her as mum's prima...
Haringey
13 years
Amy was great with John, and a terrific help to me.
Westminster
11 years
Irina was the first cared my mum had experienced, and proved excellent. She was ...
Leicester
26 years
Nonhlanhla was kind, attentive and extremely conscientious.
Luton
8 years
He was one of the best carer . He knows how he can work with dementia person . I...
Wigan
18 years
Rebecca did a great job of helping my parents. She listened and did her very bes...
Middlesbrough
6 years
Karen was a very good carer. She blended in very well with the family and was ve...
Brighton and Hove
15 years
Matilda’s experience made it easy for my mother to return home. As a family we f...
County Durham
9 years
Yvonne is extremely capable, efficient and friendly. She immediately earned my m...
Middlesbrough
19 years
Very caring
Nottingham
17 years
Rachel came at a time when mum had really downhill very quickly, so was faced wi...