Best 5 Live-in Care Agencies in the UK (2026)

Live in care enhances an older person’s quality of life, as it provides the daily support they need to live safely, comfortably, and independently at home. If your loved one would prefer to receive care at home over moving into residential care, you may be eager to arrange a service from one of the best live in care agencies in the country.

With many options available, it’s important to choose wisely, as you must find a dependable agency to provide your loved one with safe, reliable support at home. To help you make the right choice for your family, we’re providing a rundown of the best live in care agencies in the UK and the reasons why.

1. Consultus Care and Nursing

Founded in 1962, Consultus Care and Nursing is one of the UK’s longest-established live in care agencies with over 60 years’ experience. It’s also the largest wholly family-owned live in care provider in the UK. With no investor pressure, it focuses on the families it serves, making decisions based on their best interests.

Consultus Care is unique among the best live in care companies on this list, as it has three distinct service options:

• Managed live-in care – Fully Care Quality Commission (CQC)-regulated

• Introductory live-in care

• Live-in nursing – All registered nurses hold a minimum of 3 years post-qualification experience.

What makes it one of the best live in care agencies in the UK is its CQC-rated ‘Good’ managed service, which indicates the company consistently meets fundamental standards. Also, Care Consultants deliberately oversee a small number of families to provide genuinely personal, continuous support, rather than juggling a large, anonymous caseload.

As your family member’s wellbeing is your priority, you’ll be pleased to learn you’ll receive real-time day-to-day updates via the Consultus Connect app. This provides your family with regular peace of mind, and you can check your loved one’s bookings at any time.

In addition to providing live-in care for people struggling to perform everyday tasks, Consultus Care and Nursing also provides 24/7 specialist care for serious or complex medical needs, such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, physical disability, frailty, cancer, palliative/end-of-life care, and more.

Its multi-award-winning training centre, Skills for Care Centre of Excellence, is also nationally recognised for the quality of its training, nurses, and carers. Plus, Consultus Care and Nursing has received 85+ Trustpilot reviews, 78+ Homecare reviews, and a 9.4 homecare.co.uk score.

A local Care Consultant also provides families with a free home care assessment before care begins, helping devise the appropriate care plan for your loved one.

If you would like to arrange home-based care with one of the best live in care companies in the UK, call Consultus Care and Nursing today to speak to an advisor.

2. Helping Hands

Helping Hands is arguably one of the best live in care agencies in the UK, providing families across the country with a wide national branch coverage. It currently operates 140+ CQC-regulated branches across England and Wales. It also doesn’t follow an agency model, as it directly employs all of its carers.

Founded in 1989, it is one of the UK’s largest fully managed live-in care companies with over 30 years of experience. Its branches have earned mostly good CQC ratings, making it a worthy consideration when looking for the best live in care companies in the UK. Helping Hands also has a strong homecare.co.uk score of 9.1/10, and it has operated as part of the LivingBridge Private Equity since 2018.

If you’re unsure if home-based care is right for your loved one, learn more about the benefits of live-in care to make an informed decision.

3. The Good Care Group

Founded in 2009, The Good Care Group is a premium, fully managed live-in care agency that has been part of The Halifax Group since 2023.

The Good Care Group has established itself as one of the top live in care agencies with a CQC Outstanding rating, providing confidence in the quality of its services. Its care managers have small caseloads to provide families with close oversight, which has helped make it one of the best live in care agencies in the country.

The London-based agency provides nationwide coverage across England. It has also built a strong reputation for its clinical expertise, which includes dementia, complex care, PEG feeding, stoma care, ventilator support, and palliative care. Plus, the agency employs an in-house Admiral Nurse who specialises in dementia care. For this reason, it is a strong choice for families with complex or clinical care needs.

4. Home Instead

If you’re looking for one of the best live in care companies in the UK, Home Instead might be the right fit for your family. It offers a large franchise for home care in the UK, with many locally owned and CQC-regulated offices.

Home Instead also has a strong community presence with dedicated local care managers and has earned a score of 9.6/10 on homecare.co.uk. It’s one of the most reputable live in care companies in the country, and well-suited for families wanting a local, personally managed service backed by a major national brand.

Find out more about elderly care at home and how it can benefit your loved one and family.

5. Promedica24

Like many of the best live in care agencies in the UK, Promedica24 is a CQC-rated live in care provider with a ‘Good’ rating operating nationally across the UK.

Founded in 2004, it provides families with over 20 years of specialist home care experience, with its care managers holding over 100 years of combined expertise in health and social care.

Promedica24 provides families with flexibility, as they can choose from its fully managed, regulated live in service or its self-managed option, called CareConnect, which uses vetted self-employed carers.

It’s one of the top live in care agencies for condition-led support, including dementia, Parkinson’s, cancer, stroke, MS, MND, and end-of-life care.

What Makes the Best Live-in Care Companies Stand Out?

We understand it might feel tough choosing between the best live in care companies in the UK, as each has developed a strong reputation in the industry.

If you’re torn between the best live in care providers, we recommend reviewing the following factors when comparing live in care agencies and companies:

1. CQC regulation – Managed providers are regulated; introductory agencies are not.

2. Carer vetting – Look for DBS checks, reference verification, and skills matching.

3. Continuity – Do clients consistently receive support from the same carer?

4. Specialist support – Can an agency handle conditions like dementia, Parkinson’s, and palliative care?

5. Family involvement – Does the agency provide regular updates?

6. Emergency cover – What happens if a carer is unavailable?

Click here to learn more about what is live-in care and how it can enhance your loved one’s quality of life. Also, learn more about the various funding live-in care options to remove some or all the financial pressure.

How to Get Started with Live-in Care

It’s important to make an informed decision to choose the best live in care provider for your loved one. For this reason, we recommend requesting a free needs assessment to develop the right care plan for a family member.

Set time aside to read recent CQC inspection reports, check reviews on homecare.co.uk and Trustpilot, and speak directly to a potential provider about carer matching, cover arrangements, and fees.

As Consultus Care and Nursing has over 60 years of experience, we understand the importance of doing your homework when choosing from the top live in care agencies. For this reason, we are more than happy to provide a free home assessment with a local Care Consultant and access to the Consultus Connect app to keep families informed.

If you would like to learn more about who we are and how we can help, find out more about our live-in care service today.