Many carers, especially live-in carers opt to become self-employed. There are a number of benefits to this, but also some pitfalls.

The main attraction to becoming self-employed is that you don’t have to work for someone else. You are essentially your own boss and responsible for finding work for yourself and making sure that you are sufficiently skilled to take on whatever work you want to. It can be a very liberating experience for some people as they are able to choose when to work and for how long. There can also be some tax advantages if you structure your business carefully as usually expenses that are incurred in the course of your business are deductible from your income before you have to pay any tax.

The downsides can be that you may struggle to find work exactly when you want it, and you don’t get paid for those periods when you can’t find work. You may also have to pay for all your own training, insurance etc. and keep yourself up to date with industry changes.

There are a number of agencies and employers who contract with self-employed carers and of course you can advertise for private work as well.

To qualify for self-employed status, you can use the government’s own online tool to make sure that HMRC will accept that your work truly is self-employed:

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-employment-status-for-tax/setup