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.
Milton Keynes
8 years
Tito came to us at very short notice and fitted in very quickly and we liked her...
Lewisham
9 years
Bernadette was conscientious, calm, and a good companion.
South Hams
14 years
Ravi is an excellent carer. Knowledgeable, caring and patient.
East Devon
8 years
Bonnie is a very gentle and compassionate young lady. She was very understanding...
City of Edinburgh
16 years
she was kind caring and very helpful working as part of a team of two carers
North Northamptonshire
24 years
Epi was a very approachable prior to the care placement. She was also able to t...
Lewisham
25 years
Onuwa took good care of my father and he was kind. An essential quality in a car...
Solihull
11 years
Elisabete was friendly, patient, calm and dedicated to providing the best care f...
Haringey
70 years
Comfort is such a warm and kind lady. She always put our mum at ease and this wa...
Leicester
11 years
Lydia spent 10 days caring for my mother in her own home. Lydia has a pleasant a...
Croydon
7 years
Nina is a lovely family carer. Very friendly, happy. Mum loved her being there
Wakefield
9 years
Kind, thoughtful (made Aunty’s friend welcome and made her favourite cake) and e...
Tower Hamlets
7 years
Berite was very sweet and gentle and caring with my dad who really liked her. S...
Salford
9 years
Faye is a ray of sunshine and the transformation with Mum has been incredible. ...
Newham
10 years
Elena is lovely and very good, helpful, patient and kind to our aunt. We appreci...
Leicester
22 years
Lydia was great. She is extremely professional and conscientious. She is compl...
Kingston upon Thames
23 years
Maria is a credit to Elder she is a warm happy jolly soul, who works super hard....
Caerphilly
13 years
Steve has cared for my father over 3 months. We found him to be very easy going ...
Milton Keynes
28 years
My parents felt safe and relaxed with Helen during the 10 days she gave them res...
Wakefield
23 years
Jonathan , was the perfect person to take care of our Dad , he was very understa...