Having the right carer looking after you in your own home should feel like a great weight has been lifted off of your shoulders. It should feel like someone kind, calm and capable is always around who knows what to do and who to call about any given situation.
Carers are professionally trained to implement solutions to all of the challenges that arise for people later in life.
Quality care is essential when taking responsibility for vulnerable adults and we know that what you need is a kind, trustworthy, qualified and experienced person to care for yourself or your loved one. You can count on our expertise to provide that.
Once you have registered with us and we know a bit more about you and your needs we will provide you with profiles of experienced self-employed live-in-carers who are available for your particular time frame. We will introduce you to a choice of carers who will potentially be a good match for you.
At V.I.P Care we pride ourselves on providing personal, individual care to you or your loved ones; creating a feeling of care, safety and security in the home. Our one-on-one attention to our clients’ varying and individual needs is what sets us apart from others in our field. We will only introduce carers who are already very experienced as we feel this is important.
All of our self-employed carers have gone through our registration process and been interviewed and met our exacting standards.
Wendy at VIP Agency is professional, efficient and caring. She has provided carers for my father who are of a very high calibre. The carers have always been kind, sensitive around family situations, intelligent and able to understand the needs of the person they are caring for. They have independently managed my father’s complex health needs with compassion and their own initiative. Wendy is a brilliant communicator; she always keeps in touch when she needs to and is clear about the costs and provides transparent invoicing without any hidden costs. I would thoroughly recommend VIP to anyone about to embark on this journey.
Rups Cregeen
We were referred to VIP Carers by a close friend who has used Wendy to find an amazing carer for her father. Our father is 93 years old, and after a visit to hospital 4 months ago his mental capacity declined sharply. We already employed a care agency, but his needs changed dramatically. We needed someone who fully comprehended his situation and could choose the appropriate carers for Dad. He needs looking after day and night. Wendy has worked closely with us to ensure an excellent rotation of specialist carers for an elderly man with dementia. We couldn’t recommend her enough.
Rob Sterland-Green
One of the reasons you may be feeling that you or a loved one needs extra help is because ordinary tasks such as laundry, driving, cooking, cleaning and doing the shopping, have begun to feel overwhelming or even impossible. A professional live-in-carer can potentially help with light housework plus do all of the cooking and shopping and provide you with a healthy, balanced diet. A good carer will become a trustworthy companion to keep you company, help you arrange your social diary and manage appointments of all kinds. They can potentially help you to tackle any projects that you have been neglecting and either drive you where you need to go or accompany you on public transport if that is your preferred method of getting around.
The array of medications prescribed these days can be dizzying! While this is extremely helpful in improving your quality of life, it can also be confusing.
Professional live-in carers can help you to understand the medications which have been prescribed for you and remind you when and how to take them. They are also skilled at knowing when to consult a medical professional if they feel you may benefit from changes to your medication.
If you or your loved one is struggling with mobility issues and can’t do what used to be easy in terms of getting up, getting dressed and getting going, a live-in-carer is there to help. They are also there to assist getting back into bed at night if this has become difficult. If you are ill in bed your experienced carer will know exactly how to care for you until you feel better. In addition, they will assist you to get back to doing the things you used to enjoy, from choosing your favourite television programs to taking you out in the car to visit friends and family. You may find with their help that you can re-start old hobbies and interests. It’s all about having the best quality of life you can manage.
Carers have specialised training and experience in the use of various mobility aids to help people get back to doing the things they used to be able to do. You may be surprised at how many solutions there are out there! Carers will call in the necessary professionals to assess your needs and prescribe the equipment but once it is in place, they will help you to use it.
Our carers are qualified to help you manage conditions such as dementia, diabetes, Parkinson’s, post-stroke symptoms and rehabilitation from surgery.
When we do our initial assessment and get to know a bit more about your needs or those of your loved one we will be able to tell you a bit more about what type of care will be required and how we can help.
The following is a guide to the steps to take to engage a live-in-carer through V.I.P Carers. We are happy to discuss any questions or concerns you have at any stage in this process and will provide you with a no-obligation quotation as well. You will also be provided with our basic terms and conditions in an email and as long as these are acceptable to you, you will sign them and pay our registration fee of £250.00. Once this is done, we will provide you with a profile or profiles of suitable carers available for your time frame.
The cost of care can be confusing and you will want to understand exactly what costs are involved.
As there are many different types and areas of care, V.I.P Carers will provide you with a tailor-made quotation once we have made an assessment of what needs are present.
V.I.P Carers is a small, personal agency and we plan on staying that way. This will work to your advantage when it comes to costs. We do not have the enormous overheads of a large agency and this is reflected in our competitive pricing.
The most basic level of care is Companionship care. From here we move to where dementia or other specialised types of care, including palliative care, are required.
Couple care is another area of care, where both people may require the same type of care or one may need more than the other. We will assess these types of needs before providing you with a quotation.
Registration fee – the £250 registration fee is a one-off fee which covers our set up requirements, initial consultation, home (or video) visit and allows V.I.P Care to maintain an available pool of carers who can be ready to go with just a few day’s notice.
Agency fee – This is the fee we charge to ensure that V.I.P Care can find you another carer when your current carer takes time off. Circumstances can change. If things don’t go to plan or your needs change, payment of the agency fee ensures that we can continue to provide carers who are available quickly. The agency fee will be charged at an agreed percentage of whatever care is being provided and will be quoted for when the level of care required has been established.
The Carer’s fee – The carers we will be introducing are all self employed which means they are responsible for their own taxes and NI payments. V.I.P Care provides them with guidance around recommended rates but you are responsible for paying the carer at the end of each week and they will invoice you directly. The carer’s fee will be based on the level of care and hours required and will therefore be reflected in our quotation after an assessment has been carried out.
Travel: The cost of the carer’s travel to the job. It is normal for carers to charge for their incoming travel and this cost should always be agreed with the carer in advance.
Food and bills while working: The carer can either share meals with the person they are caring for, or if preferred be provided with a weekly food allowance and therefore prepare their own meals. This should be agreed in advance with the carer. It is expected that the carer will be provided with wifi access and household utilities while at work.
Help at night: If the carer is called to help during the night occasionally they will charge a waking fee. This should be agreed with the carer in advance. If the carer is called upon for night care on a regular basis then this may indicate extra help is required overnight.
Bank holidays: As live-in-care help is required on an ongoing basis, carers usually can’t take bank holidays off and leave their client alone. Therefore it is usual to charge extra for bank holidays worked. This should be agreed in advance between you and the carer.
Wendy at V.I.P Care came to our rescue when my mother needed full time care asap. The care and attention Wendy has shown has been incredible. The Carers she’s found us have been fantastic. I would and do recommend V.I.P Care to my friends. Professional and personal the whole way. Thank you.
William Lucas
My brother and I were getting quite desperate to find a live in carer for our elderly parents just before Christmas 2023, until we were strongly recommended to contact Wendy at V.I.P. Carers. Since then I can honestly say we haven’t looked back. After carefully discussing our parents’ requirements in detail, Wendy has introduced us to two carers who have proved to be excellent. They are extremely reliable and caring. Although we visit our parents on a regular basis, when we are not around we have peace of mind that they are receiving the best care and attention. Wendy keeps in regular contact with the carers as well as ourselves and changeover days always run smoothly. As a result of the service we have received we can thoroughly recommend V.I.P. Carers.
Angela Peel
