Home care worker jobs and recruitment
Home care workers, also called domiciliary care workers, visit people in their own homes so they can keep living there. A day is a run of visits: helping someone up in the morning, making lunch, prompting medicines, and helping them to bed at night.
We place home care workers with domiciliary care providers, for temporary cover and permanent jobs, and we are always clear with you about travel between visits.
The home care worker role at a glance
- Duties
- Personal care, meals and drinks, medicines support, light housework, shopping, company, and reporting any change to the office.
- Shifts
- Runs of visits across mornings, lunchtimes, teatimes and evenings, with some waking nights and sleep-ins.
- Checks
- The adults’ criminal record check for the nation, references, and a driving licence and insurance that covers driving for work if you drive.
- Pay basis
- Hourly. Travel time between visits counts as working time for the minimum wage.
- Qualifications
- Care Certificate standards in England; registration with Social Care Wales, the SSSC or NISCC in the other nations.
What a home care worker does
Home care workers usually work alone. You let yourself in with a key safe code, read the care plan, give the care, write your notes and move on to the next visit. If something is wrong, you call the office and stay until it is sorted.
The work suits people who are organised, calm and good company. Many of the people you visit live alone, and your visit may be the only conversation they have that day.
Qualifications for home care workers in each nation
Home care is one of the most regulated kinds of care work, and three nations register the workers who do it:
- England
- New starters work through the Care Certificate standards. Experienced workers often hold the Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate or the Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care.
- Scotland
- SSSC registration, usually within six months of starting, with the qualification condition for the role.
- Wales
- Domiciliary care workers have had to register with Social Care Wales since 2020, within six months of starting, working through the All Wales Induction Framework and the Level 2 Health and Social Care qualifications.
- Northern Ireland
- NISCC registration within six months of starting. Agencies that supply home care workers in Northern Ireland must themselves be registered with RQIA as domiciliary care agencies.
Checks we run for home care workers
You will often be alone in someone’s home, with their keys and sometimes their money. Before we introduce or supply you, we check:
- identity and right to work in the UK
- an enhanced DBS check with the adults’ barred list in England and Wales, PVG membership in Scotland, or an enhanced AccessNI check in Northern Ireland
- two references, including your most recent care employer
- your driving licence and car insurance that covers driving for work, if the work needs a car
- training in moving and handling, safeguarding and medicines support
Shifts home care workers usually cover
Home care visits bunch around getting up, meals and bedtime, so many home care workers work an early run and an evening run, with a break in the middle. Some services also need waking nights and sleep-ins.
- Early to or
- Late to
- Waking night or to or
- Sleep-in to A worker sleeps at the service and gets up if someone needs help. The service sets the hours and says what happens if the night is disturbed.
How home care worker pay is set
Home care workers are paid by the hour. Under GOV.UK guidance, travelling between visits counts as working time for the minimum wage, though travelling from home to your first visit does not.
Nobody aged 21 or older may be paid below the National Living Wage, which GOV.UK sets at £12.71 an hour from 1 April 2026. If you use your own car for work, ask about mileage before you accept a run.
Where home care workers work
Home care workers work for domiciliary care providers, and some support people in supported living.
- Home care Visits to people in their own homes to help with personal care, meals and medicines.
- Supported living People with their own tenancies and a support team who help them live the way they choose.
Questions about home care work
Do I need to drive for home care work?
Not always. Some runs are in towns where you can walk between visits or use buses. Tell us whether you drive and we only offer you runs that fit.
Am I paid for travel between visits?
Travel between visits counts as working time for the minimum wage. We explain exactly how travel time is paid before you accept any work.
Will I be on my own?
Usually, although some visits need two workers, for example when a hoist is used. The office is always your back-up during your shift.
Register for home care work
Send us your details or phone the office. Tell us whether you drive and where you can travel to.