What is Home Care?
Home Care (also called domiciliary care) is extra support usually from a paid carer to help you live independently in your own home.
A carer can be a care agency arranged through the Council or employed privately using your own funds.
Home Care is different from the informal support that people get from unpaid carers who are usually family members, friends or neighbours.
Tasks carers can support with
- Support with day-to-day tasks such as personal care, meal preparation and other domestic tasks
- Short-term emergency support whilst you recover from an illness or to give family or friends a break from their caring role
- Long-term support
Arranging your own home care
To arrange your own care from a paid carer, you can follow this link to the CQC website to find and compare care services.
These agencies are registered and inspected by CQC so they in-line with national standards.
If you choose to arrange your own Home Care, you can employ the carer directly through the home care agency that you choose.
Care arrangements for people with an assessed need
If you want help from a paid carer but you are unable to arrange your own Home Care, the council can arrange home care for you if you are eligible for this.
For the council to decide if you are eligible, a care assessment is needed. If you are assessed as eligible for support, the council will arrange the home care for your safety and independence at home.
If you are assessed as not eligible, you can arrange your own home care and get free advice about where you can get help in your community.
Depending on your circumstances, you may need to contribute towards the cost of your home care or pay for it all. A financial assessment will determine this.
Home care neighbourhoods
The current home care service is changing. The council is working closely with the NHS to put in place the new home care neighbourhood model which is starting from Spring 2024 and will continue to be rolled out until Spring 2025.
This model is a way of ensuring better and more consistent home care in your community.
Lambeth Council is introducing new contracts to create eight neighbourhoods for home care. In each neighbourhood, one care provider will support people in the area.
This may mean that your provider will change to the neighbourhood provider for your area. If you have an assessed need and the council is arranging home care for you, We will write to you before any changes take place, so you do not need to take any action at this time.
The changes will not happen immediately – this may be later in 2024 or even in 2025 and you will be made aware of each step before any change happens.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or concerns about the home care neighbourhoods, please contact the Home Care Team in one of the following ways:
- By telephone: 020 7926 2778 Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, excluding bank holidays. You can leave a message outside of these times, and a council officer will contact you to discuss your query.
- By email: HomeCare@lambeth.gov.uk
- By post: Lambeth Council, Adult Social Care Commissioning, PO Box 80771, London, SW2 9QQ.
Further information about home care neighbourhoods
For further information about the Lambeth home care neighbourhoods, please see Frequently Asked Questions