Questions
Arranging support for someone you love raises a lot of practical questions. Here are ours, answered straight. If yours is not here, email hello@witho.co.uk and we will answer it — and probably add it to this page.
Witho introduces families to vetted local helpers for practical day-to-day support — company, the weekly shop, errands, lifts to appointments, home help, meals, admin and the garden. Not care: helpers do not wash, dress or give medication. You choose your helper; we make the introduction and do the checking.
No, and deliberately not. Witho introduces helpers for practical support only. Personal care — washing, dressing, toileting, medication — is a CQC-regulated activity and no Witho helper provides it. Keeping that boundary is what makes the service simple, affordable and quick to arrange.
No. CQC registration applies to providers of personal care. Witho introduces helpers for practical support and no personal care is provided, so registration does not apply. If what your family needs has moved into personal care, we will tell you honestly and point you towards a registered provider.
We cannot direct your helper to change how they work — that conversation is yours to have. What we can and will do is act on safeguarding concerns, pause and remove helpers from the platform, help you find someone else, and refer matters to the local authority or police. Visits booked and paid for through Witho are insured.
We introduce helpers across England, from London and the South East to the North West, the Midlands, the East and the South West. We are based in Bradford. Coverage is stronger in some areas than others while we grow, so ring us with your postcode and we will tell you honestly what we can arrange and how quickly.
Helpers set their own hourly rate, starting at £20 an hour, and keep every penny of it. Witho adds a 10% service fee to your total — so a £20 helper costs £22 an hour. That is the whole amount, with nothing added at checkout. The fee runs the platform and insures every visit. A care agency typically charges around £30 an hour and pays the worker around £13 of it.
It runs the platform, funds the checks on every helper, and pays for the insurance that covers each booked visit. It is added to your total rather than deducted from your helper, so they always receive the full rate they set. It is the only money Witho makes from a visit.
From partner companies offering things people often need alongside care — personal alarms, mobility equipment, home adaptations and stairlifts. If you ask us to put you in touch with one, they pay us a fee for the introduction. We only pass your details on if you ask us to, you pay the provider direct, and you are never obliged to use them. We also carry clearly marked advertising on our guides and directory. We take nothing from your hourly rate and no fee from helpers, and we do not take fees for introductions to financial products or advice.
Yes, and a great many people do. Neither is means-tested, neither is taxed, and both can be spent on whatever makes life easier — there is no requirement to spend them on formal care. In 2026/27 PIP daily living pays £76.70 or £114.60 a week, which is roughly three and a half to five hours of support. PIP with both components at the enhanced rate is £194.60 a week, close to nine hours. A council direct payment can usually be used for a self-employed helper as well.
One hour is the minimum session. Most families book one or two sessions a week to start with.
No. £20 an hour applies whenever the session takes place.
Those costs are yours, not the helper’s, and should be agreed before the session. Helpers keep receipts for anything they buy on your behalf and hand them over the same day.
If a helper uses their own car for an outing or an appointment, agree mileage with them beforehand. HMRC’s approved rate of 45p a mile is a fair and common reference point.
Yes, and we encourage it. Familiarity is most of the value, particularly for someone living with memory difficulties. We keep you with the same helper wherever we can.
Yes. Before the first session goes ahead you meet — usually a short, no-obligation visit at home, with another family member there if you would like. It is a conversation, not an assessment.
Tell us and we will suggest someone else. You never have to explain why, and there is nothing to pay for an introduction that does not work out. Getting the match right matters more to us than filling a slot.
We will tell you as soon as we know and offer a substitute if you would like one — but we will never quietly send someone unfamiliar to the door. If you would rather skip that week, that is completely fine.
Yes. Tell us your preference and we will match accordingly. It is a common and entirely reasonable request.
Yes, tell us and we will do our best. We cover a diverse area and our helpers between them speak a number of languages, though we cannot promise every combination in every postcode.
No. Helpers are self-employed. They choose which introductions to accept and set their own availability, and they are responsible for their own tax and National Insurance.
Enter your postcode, look at the helpers covering your area, and pick a time from their calendar. If you would rather talk to a person first, send an enquiry and we will reply within one working day.
Sessions need at least 24 hours’ notice, so nobody is rearranging their day at the last minute.
Tell your helper and Witho as early as you can. Cancel with more than 48 hours' notice and you are refunded in full. Inside 48 hours your helper may charge for the visit, because they have set the time aside and it is usually too late to fill it. That is their decision, not an automatic charge, and most will waive it for illness or an emergency — but please do not rely on it.
Tell us straight away at hello@witho.co.uk. You will not be charged for a session that did not happen, and we will look into it. Reliability is the whole product; we take it seriously.
Yes. Because you book online, you have a statutory right to cancel within 14 days of booking, for any reason, and get your money back. Visits usually happen sooner than that, which is why we ask you to confirm at booking that you want the visit to go ahead anyway — that confirmation is required by law before a service can start inside the cancellation period. Once a visit has actually taken place you cannot cancel that visit, but anything still to come is refunded in full. This is separate from, and in addition to, the 48-hour notice arrangement below.
Your helper is self-employed. When they accept a booking they turn down other work for that time, and inside 48 hours it is rarely possible to fill the gap. Without the charge, the cost of a late cancellation falls entirely on them. It is the same reason a dentist or a hairdresser charges for a missed appointment — and, as with them, it is discretionary rather than automatic.
No. There is no contract, no notice period, and no minimum commitment. Book as much or as little as you need, pause any time, and stop whenever you like.
Yes — most bookings are made by an adult son or daughter. We would always want the person receiving support to be happy with the arrangement, so we will involve them in the introduction.
Email hello@witho.co.uk and it will be read by a director, not a queue. We will come back to you with what we found and what has changed as a result.
Every helper holds a current DBS certificate obtained through Care Check and kept live on the DBS Update Service, has photo ID, right to work, and address verified, has two references taken up by phone, and has been interviewed by a member of the Witho team — face to face where we can, by video call otherwise. Nobody appears on Witho until all of that is complete.
Witho holds insurance covering visits booked through the platform. Visits arranged privately outside Witho are not covered — which is one good reason to keep bookings on the platform. Ask us if you would like the policy details.
Email safeguarding@witho.co.uk. You do not need to be certain and you do not need evidence. The helper is paused from all bookings the same day while a director reviews it, and we refer to the local authority or police where appropriate. If someone is in immediate danger, call 999 first.
We collect only what we need to arrange support and we never sell it. Full detail is in our privacy policy, including how long we keep records and how to ask for a copy or deletion.
Only for agreed shopping, always with receipts. Helpers must never be given access to bank cards, PINs, or online banking, must not accept gifts, loans, or lend money, and must have no involvement in anyone’s will or finances. If a helper ever asks for money, tell us immediately.
Arrangements for getting in are between you and your helper, and should be agreed in advance and written down. Many families use a key safe. Never leave a key somewhere obvious like under a mat.
Tell us within 48 hours at witho.co.uk/booking/report. Payments are released to helpers two days after a visit, so reporting inside that window holds the money automatically while we sort it out. After that we can still help, but the payment may already have gone.
Yes — preparing a simple meal, making breakfast, or putting something in the oven is ordinary practical support and well within what helpers do.
No. That is personal care and it sits outside what Witho does. Helpers support everything around it — breakfast, the shopping, company, the post, a lift to the doctor. If washing and dressing is what is needed, we will say so honestly and point you to a registered provider.
Only by reminding. A helper can ask “have you taken your tablets this morning?” and nothing more. Taking a tablet out of a box and giving it to someone is administering medication, which is regulated care, and no Witho helper does it. If that is needed, it needs a registered provider.
Yes — overnight sitting, where a helper stays over so nobody is alone in the house. They are there for company and reassurance, and to call for help in an emergency. It is not night-time care: no help to the toilet, no medication, no personal care. Witho does not offer live-in care.
An overnight helper is there for reassurance — settling someone who is anxious, making a drink, putting a light on. If there has been a fall or anything needing medical attention they call 999 first and then you. They do not help with the toilet, transfers or medication, because that boundary does not change just because it is dark.
Tell us honestly and we will be honest back. Witho works brilliantly for people who need a hand rather than hands-on care. When needs move into washing, dressing or medication, that is the point to bring in a registered provider — and we will say so even though it means we lose the work.
Yes, and it is one of the most valued things they do. Helpers who drive show a valid licence and business-use insurance, and mileage should be agreed beforehand.
Yes, for company and practical help, and continuity of the same familiar face matters enormously. What helpers cannot provide is personal care, so if needs have moved beyond practical support we will tell you honestly rather than stretch the service.
Yes. Pets are often the reason someone wants to stay at home, and helping with them is part of practical support.
Helpers call 999 first and then contact you and Witho. Every helper is asked to know the emergency contact for the person they support before their first session.
This is very common and worth taking slowly. It often helps to frame it as company or a hand with the shopping rather than "care", and to let them meet the helper with no commitment. If the answer is still no, that is their decision to make.
You set your own hourly rate — the minimum on Witho is £20 an hour — and you keep all of it. Witho takes no commission and charges no fees. Most agencies pay a fraction of what they charge the family; here there is nothing between you and your rate.
Nothing goes to Witho, ever. The one cost is your DBS check — around £23, paid to the checking service — plus the DBS Update Service subscription that keeps it current. The certificate is yours and you can use it for other work.
No formal qualifications. What matters is reliability, warmth, and good judgement about boundaries. Many of our helpers are people who already do this informally for neighbours or family.
Yes to both. You set your hourly rate (minimum £20) and your availability, and you choose which introductions to accept. There is no minimum and no obligation to take work you do not want.
No, you are self-employed. That means you handle your own tax and National Insurance — HMRC’s website explains how to register, and it is more straightforward than most people expect.
The application takes about ten minutes. Vetting depends mostly on how quickly your DBS and references come back, usually a week or two.
Most people who contact us are working out whether this is the right moment to arrange something at all. That is a fair question and we are happy to talk it through with no expectation either way.
Send us a message and we will come back to you within one working day.