Written by Oliver Wakefield-Smith. Reviewed for accuracy against the Homecare Association's 2026/27 minimum-price report and Age UK's 2026 factsheets. Numbers verified 21 June 2026.

Home care cost calculator (UK, 2026/27)

Model your parent's weekly and annual home care cost from four inputs: care type, hours per week, region and complexity. The arithmetic is visible. The floor rate is the Homecare Association's 2026/27 minimum sustainable price of £34.42/hr[1], the regional uplifts come from Skills for Care workforce data[19], the weekend multiplier is the typical 1.25x agency published rate.

What the calculator does, line by line

• Floor rate: £34.42/hr, the published Homecare Association 2026/27 minimum sustainable price that funds National Living Wage, travel, training, sick pay and a regulated margin[1].
• Region uplift: 0.87x (North East) to 1.12x (London), derived from regional workforce-cost data[19].
• Complexity uplift: 1.0x standard, 1.1x dementia, 1.25x nurse-led, 2.0x two-carer.
• Weekend share: weekend hours priced at 1.25x the weekday rate.

What to do with the answer

Take the weekly number to your means test: if your parent's capital is below £23,250 in England or Northern Ireland, the council will pay part of it[5]. If they live in Scotland, personal care is free[10]. In Wales chargeable non-residential care is capped at £100/week[12].

Then take the weekly number to live-in vs hourly: above about 50 hours a week, a live-in arrangement often costs less than the equivalent visiting package.