Self-employed carer rates in 2026: the benchmarks
Self-employed carers do not have to publish their rates, so there is no official average. These public figures show what the same work pays when it is employed:
| Benchmark | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| National Living Wage, 21 and over | £12.71 an hour from 1 April 2026 | GOV.UK |
| Median pay, care workers and support workers | £12.60 an hour, March 2026 | Skills for Care, 2026 |
| Median pay, senior care workers | £13.33 an hour, December 2025 | Skills for Care, March 2026 |
| NHS band 2 (healthcare support worker) | £25,272 a year from 1 April 2026 | NHS Employers |
| NHS band 3 | £25,760 to £27,476 a year | NHS Employers |
The £12.60 median is from before the April 2026 rise, which is why it sits below today’s National Living Wage. Skills for Care found that 49% of care workers and support workers were paid less than the new £12.71 rate when it was announced.
VerriPro shows the rates its own Professionals set here only for roles where at least 10 Professionals have set a rate. No role has reached that yet, so the public benchmarks above are the reference for now.
What your rate has to cover
An employee’s hourly pay is only part of what an employer spends on them. When you work for yourself, every one of those costs comes out of your rate:
- Holidays and sick days. Almost all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year. You are paid nothing when you are not working.
- Unpaid time. Travel between clients, gaps between visits, cancelled visits and admin.
- Travel costs. HMRC’s simplified rate for business mileage by car is 55p a mile for the first 10,000 miles from 6 April 2026, a guide to what driving actually costs you.
- Insurance: public liability and professional indemnity.
- Training and checks, including refresher courses and your DBS.
- Tax and National Insurance. For 2026 to 2027, Class 4 National Insurance is 6% of profits between £12,570 and £50,270, on top of Income Tax.
- A pension. No employer pays into one for you.
A worked example
Suppose you want to match an employee on the National Living Wage who is paid for 52 weeks but has 5.6 weeks of paid holiday. A year has about 52.14 weeks, so they work about 46.5 of them.
- To earn the same over the year in the weeks you actually work, you need £12.71 × 52.14 ÷ 46.54, which is about £14.24 for every hour you work.
- That is before insurance, training, phone, travel costs, unpaid time between visits and a pension.
- If those come to, say, £2 for every hour you work, you need about £16.24 an hour just to stand level with a minimum-wage employee.
The £2 is an illustration only; work out your own from a year of real costs. Then decide where your experience, specialisms and local demand put you above that floor.
Hourly visits, overnight care and live-in work
Short visits
Short visits carry the same travel and setting-up time as long ones. Many carers set a higher rate for visits under an hour, or a minimum visit length, so the travel is paid for.
Sleeping nights and waking nights
A sleeping night, where you are there in case you are needed, is usually priced per night; a waking night is usually charged by the hour. For employed care workers, GOV.UK guidance says sleep-in time counts for the minimum wage only when the worker is “awake for the purposes of working”, and clients compare prices with that in mind. Agree in writing what happens if you are woken often.
Live-in care
Live-in work is usually priced per day or per week. The NHS tells families a live-in carer costs from around £800 a week, and up to £1,600 for a lot of care. Agree your daily breaks, days off, and who covers them, and check what your weekly rate works out to per hour actually worked.
How your rate compares with agency prices
Clients compare you with agencies. The Homecare Association calculates that an agency in England needs at least £34.42 an hour in 2026–27 to pay care workers the National Living Wage for all working time and cover its other costs; £26.17 of that goes on care worker pay and on-costs.
A self-employed carer’s rate can sit between employed pay and that agency price: above what an employee takes home, because you carry your own costs, and often below the agency price, because there is no agency margin. The home care costs guide shows prices from the client’s side.
Setting your rate on VerriPro
- You set your own hourly or visit rate in the VerriPro Provider app, and can change it.
- VerriPro adds a 13.5% platform fee on top for the client, plus VAT on the fee where it applies. At £18 an hour, the client pays £18 plus £2.43, and you are paid £18.
- Clients see your rate, and the total in £, before they book.
- You are paid after each visit, once the client approves your timesheet or the review window passes with no problem raised: to your own account if self-employed, or through your umbrella company.