At some point in your life, you’ll need to help your elderly parents with their daily lives. Usually, children or close relatives will become part-time caregivers for retired elderly family members. But, there may come a time where you can’t commit to providing daily care for your elderly mother and father. This might be due to your personal circumstances, declining health, or even work demands.

In those situations, it makes more sense to provide professional care to your elderly parents by hiring in-home care. With that in mind, here’s what you need to know:

Part-time versus full-time care: which is best?

Before you start looking at hiring someone to provide professional care services to your parents, it’s worth determining whether there is a need for a part or full-time care.

A part-time senior caregiver is a good choice for elderly parents that are quite independent but could do with some occasional daily assistance. For example, they might need someone to help with certain tasks such as doing the laundry, washing the dishes, or getting groceries from the local supermarket. A full-time senior caregiver could be the better option if your parents need a lot more help during the day and evening, especially with chores like cooking, bathing, and dispensing of medication. It’s important to have a caregiver assessment carried out so you know which option is more viable for your parents’ needs.

How to hire a caregiver

When you’ve worked out whether you need a part or full-time senior caregiver for your parents, the next stage is to hire one! Of course, there is a process that should get followed so that you end up hiring the right person for the job.

At that stage, some people opt for using an agency while others prefer to hire a caregiver directly. The advantage of using an agency is you can leave the hiring process up to someone else to manage. But, if you’d prefer to have full control over the process, it makes sense to hire a caregiver directly.

Here are a few points to consider for the recruitment process:

Advertising for a caregiver

The first thing you need to consider is the terms of employment for the caregiver you want to hire. You’ll need to think about things like the number of hours and days you need them to work, which days they can have off, and how much you wish to pay. Once you have that information, you can then begin to advertise for a caregiver.

Payment and Taxes

The usual method of paying for a caregiver is by electronic bank transfer. Of course, the way you pay your caregiver is up to you, as long as the arrangement is mutually beneficial. When it comes to taxation, you are responsible for paying taxes for senior care assistance. Be sure to take professional advice on this matter so that you don’t fall afoul of any laws.

Accommodation

Lastly, if you need a full-time senior caregiver, it may well make better sense for the provider to live at the same home as your parents. Be sure to set down some ground rules (and have them set out on paper) so that all parties know where they stand from a legal perspective.