Live-In Care in Hassocks
Gentle, dependable support at home for families carrying more than they can manage alone.
When visits are not enough, our carers move in
Most families reach us the same way: weeks of patching things together between relatives, neighbours and short visits, until it stops holding. Live-in care in Hassocks replaces all of that with one person in the house. We have been arranging it across Mid Sussex for close to thirty years, from an office a short drive south of the village, near enough that seeing you in person is never a scheduling problem.
One carer stays with your household wherever it can be managed, with a manager nearby who knows Hassocks rather than a name on a rota sheet. Our carers work across Mid Sussex and the villages threaded between the Downs and the coast, and the same team arranges live-in care in Brighton and Hove further south.
Still weighing up the basics? Start with our guide to what live-in care involves.
In their own words: Families we have looked after
What a live-in carer takes care of in Hassocks
How much a carer does depends entirely on the person in front of them, and the duties involved grow or shrink as the months go on.
Personal care
Discreet, respectful help with washing, dressing, continence and getting around the home, given at your loved one’s own pace so daily routines stay familiar and dignity is never in question.
Companionship
A friendly, consistent presence through the day: someone to talk to, share a meal or a hobby with, and to ease the isolation that living alone can bring.
Medication reminders
Gentle prompting to take the right medication at the right time, keeping to the schedule set by the GP and pharmacy so nothing is missed or doubled up.
Alzheimer's disease & dementia care
Calm, patient support built around familiar routines and one consistent carer, helping to ease the confusion and distress that change can bring for someone living with dementia.
Palliative care
Sensitive end-of-life support that lets your loved one stay in their own home, working alongside district nurses and the GP to keep them comfortable and at peace.
Household chores and assistance
Laundry, cleaning, cooking and the general upkeep of a house. Out toward Keymer or Hurstpierpoint, it also covers the driving that a weekly shop and a hospital appointment quietly depend on.
Why Hassocks families choose us over a national agency
Any national provider can find you a carer. What they cannot do is send someone who has already sat in your front room, or give you a manager in the same county who picks up the phone when you ring. Everything below follows from that.
- You pick the person. Profiles come to you, you speak to whoever is proposed, and if the fit feels wrong you say so and we look again.
- Your manager has a name. The person overseeing the care answers the phone themselves. No regional hub, no ticket number.
- Vetting done before day one. Enhanced DBS, references followed up, and training that continues for as long as a carer works with us.
- Outstanding in Caring, from the CQC. Few providers in England hold it, and it is the rating that measures kindness rather than paperwork.
- Time off is covered in advance. Holidays and rest days are filled by a carer already introduced to the household, with digital notes so family can see how the week has gone.
- A house down a lane is not a flat by the station. Outlying addresses raise questions about shopping, appointments and getting in and out that a template never asks.
- In step with everyone already involved. Your carer keeps in touch with the GP surgery and community nurses, and with the discharge team at the Princess Royal in Haywards Heath after a hospital stay.
What stays yours when care comes to you
A terrace near the station, a family house backing onto the fields, a cottage on the Ditchling side of the parish. Live-in care means none of it has to be given up.
When memory or mobility falters, familiar rooms do more good than any facility.
Not a rota of twenty faces, but someone who learns how strong your dad likes his tea.
The cat stays put. So do the roses, the radio programme and the Tuesday routine.
Relatives call in whenever they like, and grandchildren can pile through the door after school.
Same surgery, same pharmacy, same familiar hellos. A care home bed is wherever the vacancy happens to be.
Live-in care runs up to 30% below the cost of a residential place, with couples gaining most. There are further benefits worth weighing before any decision is made.
Live-in, 24-hour, overnight or visiting care: Telling them apart
Four terms, often used as though they mean the same thing. They don’t.
- Live-in care. One carer lives in the home, takes agreed breaks, and either sleeps overnight or stays awake.
- 24-hour care. Attention with no gap at all, which takes two carers in rotation rather than one.
- Overnight care. A carer arrives in the evening and leaves in the morning. For households where nights are the difficulty and days are still manageable.
- Visiting care. Fixed times, agreed tasks, then away again. Suits someone largely self-sufficient, though out in the lanes it means several journeys a day.
Once days and nights both need covering, one live-in carer is simpler, and usually cheaper, than stacking arrangements on top of each other.
How an arrangement comes together, from first call to moving-in day
After a fall, or a discharge letter from the Princess Royal, days matter and we move accordingly. With no clock running, nothing is rushed.
- A conversation first. Ring, message, or ask for a callback. We answer what we can, ask what we need, and say what happens next.
- A visit to the house. Richard Barnett, our Registered Manager, or Nastasha, our Field Care Supervisor, drives up in person. They notice what a form misses: where a carer parks on a narrow lane, how steep the stairs are in an older village house.
- The choice is yours. Written profiles come to you, questions get answered, and you decide who moves in. Nobody arrives sight unseen.
- Moving-in week. Your carer arrives on the agreed day, with Daisy, our Care Coordinator, in touch while the household settles.
- Oversight continues. A case manager reviews the placement, and senior management review the case managers. Most agencies stop at the first layer.
The cost, without having to ring and ask
Fees are weekly and cover one carer in the home, one-to-one, around the clock. Nothing hourly, nothing hidden.
- From £1,190 a week for one person
- From £1,476 a week for a couple in the same home
Your rate depends on the support needed and how nights are covered. A village address usually means a carer who drives, which we handle at matching rather than on the invoice.
- Sleeping nights. Your carer has their own room and gets up when called. Most households here settle on this, especially where a husband or wife is still at home.
- Waking nights. Your carer stays up until morning, at a higher weekly rate. It earns its cost along the lanes, where help at 3am is a drive away rather than a doorbell.
Those are private rates. A share of them may not come out of your own pocket.
Paying for care: What applies in West Sussex
Privately and publicly funded arrangements are both familiar ground here. Which route applies comes down to clinical need and finances, and we will talk you through it.
- Local authority funding. Hassocks sits with West Sussex County Council, not Brighton and Hove over the Downs, so the means-tested assessment goes through their adult social care team.
- NHS Continuing Healthcare. We are experienced in supporting NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) funded care packages, which can cover the full cost where clinical need is high enough.
- Direct Payments. The council’s contribution paid to you instead, leaving the choice of provider in your hands.
- Attendance Allowance. Unaffected by savings or income. It won’t fund a live-in rate alone, though families overlook it constantly.
What Hassocks families ask us before deciding
Does a live-in carer need their own bedroom?
They do. A private room with space for their things and somewhere to take breaks is essential. A second bathroom isn’t a requirement, though everyone finds the arrangement easier when there is one.
How fast can care begin after a hospital discharge?
Urgent cases can usually be covered within 48 to 72 hours, discharges from the Princess Royal included. Without that pressure, expect one to two weeks between the first assessment and a carer moving in.
Do you place carers down the outlying lanes, not just in the village?
Yes, across Keymer, Clayton and the lanes beyond, and onward to Burgess Hill and Lewes. For addresses off the beaten track we put forward carers who drive, so appointments and the weekly shop are covered as well.
Can live-in care work if we are based in London or Brighton?
It is one of the commonest reasons families here arrange it. With the main line taking most of the village out each morning, a live-in carer covers the hours nobody else can, and our office is near enough to call in person rather than report from a distance.
Is live-in care available for a short period only?
It is. Short placements are common after a hospital stay, to cover respite while relatives are away, or simply as a trial run before anyone commits further.
If you're carrying the worry alone, let's talk about what support could look like
The people who ring us are usually partway through a rotten fortnight. A fall at home, a phone call from the hospital, a mother who has stopped managing and said nothing about it.
Hardly anyone rings knowing whether the answer is a live-in carer, a couple of visits a day, or something else entirely. Describe the situation and we will tell you what we honestly think. If another kind of care suits better, you will hear that from us too. No script, no pressure.
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Where we provide live-in care near Hassocks
We are proud to bring the same standard of care to families across the South of England:
