Care Assistant Take-Home Pay 2026/27: Care Home and Domiciliary Care

Two settings, similar pay bands

Whether working in a residential care home or providing domiciliary (home) care, most care assistants are paid at or close to the National Living Wage, which rises to £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over from April 2026. The key difference between the two settings is often not the hourly rate itself but how travel time and shift patterns are structured and paid.

Worked example: full-time care assistant on National Living Wage

A 37.5-hour week at £12.71 an hour gives annual pay of £24,784.50. Taxable income after the £12,570 personal allowance is £12,214.50, entirely within the 20% basic rate band, giving income tax of £2,443. National Insurance at 8% on income above £12,570 is £977. Take-home pay is £24,784.50 − £2,443 − £977 = £21,364.50 a year, or about £1,780 a month.

Travel time for domiciliary care

Home care workers travelling between client visits should legally be paid for that travel time, following case law that established this counts as working time under the National Minimum Wage rules — not just the time spent directly with each client. Care assistants whose payslips do not appear to reflect paid travel time between visits should raise this with their employer, since underpayment here is a recognised compliance issue across the sector.

Bottom line

Care assistant pay in both residential and domiciliary settings typically sits close to the National Living Wage, taxed through standard PAYE. The main practical difference to watch for in home care roles is whether travel time between visits is correctly included as paid working time, which materially affects real hourly earnings even where the headline rate looks identical to a care home role.

Sources

• GOV.UK: National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage Rates
• GOV.UK: Travel Time and Minimum Wage
• GOV.UK: Mileage Allowance Payments