Best respite home care agencies in London (CQC-checked, October 2026)

Key Takeaways

Walfinch Chiswick, Hammersmith & Kensington leads this scored list of respite home care agencies in London on 110, checked 25 October 2026. Outstanding beats Good, inspections older than four years lose 15 points, a listed respite specialism would add 10, and a website-checked published price or live-in offer adds 5 each. None of the nine CQC records we opened listed respite as a specialism, so that bonus is zero. We run Match With Care. We are not CQC-registered as a care provider, so we sit in a labelled box outside this list. Method: how we rank agencies.

The agencies that actually printed a respite from-price sit further down. Helping Hands put visiting respite from £32.40 an hour and live-in from £345 a day on a page reviewed 20 March 2026.

Age UK (updated 19 February 2026) treats respite as replacement care so you can take a break. If a carer's assessment or a needs assessment shows you need it, the council should provide it. It is means-tested. The same page says Carer's Allowance can keep being paid for up to four weeks in any six-month period if you have a break from caring. The NHS is plain that a paid carer can be temporary, "for a few weeks while you recover from an illness", and puts help at home at about £15 to £30 an hour. Age UK's cost page (updated 19 August 2026) puts privately arranged care at home around £25 an hour. Attendance Allowance is still £76.70 a week, or £114.60 if help is needed through both day and night.

The Care Panel lists Outstanding London services for 2026 and mixes care homes with homecare. It does not score respite. This page does, and it shows the drawbacks.

What are the best respite home care agencies in London?

On this 25 October 2026 check we scored nine CQC-registered locations that publish respite, short-term or holiday cover and operate in, or into, London. Walfinch Chiswick, Hammersmith & Kensington leads on published facts, at 110.

How we scored these respite home care agencies

The CQC (updated 1 July 2025) registers people who carry on regulated activity. Homecare agencies that provide personal care have to be on that register. Introductory platforms do not, which is why Elder, Curam and Care.com UK are not in this table.

Each location starts at 100 for Outstanding, 60 for Good, or 20 for Requires improvement. An inspection older than four years loses 15. A listed respite specialism would add 10; none of these CQC pages had one. A website-checked published hourly or weekly from-price adds 5. A website-checked live-in offer adds 5. Ties break on the more recent inspection, then the name. Full rules: agency ranking methodology. Checked 25 October 2026.

CQC does not rate respite as its own category. A location is here because its own site described respite, short-term live-in, holiday cover or replacement care.

Priya in Golders Green had a 10-day window for a wedding in Manchester. Right at Home's respite page asked her to book a free assessment. Unique's costs page, updated 7 October 2026, wants 14 days as a minimum.

Comparison table

Rank	Agency	Score	CQC rating	Last inspection	Website-checked fact	Drawback
1	Walfinch Chiswick, Hammersmith & Kensington	110	Outstanding	Report published 16 May 2025	Respite listed on the live-in page; visiting from £39 an hour	No respite from-price on the pages we opened
2	Bluebird Care (Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea)	105	Outstanding	Report published 17 Apr 2026	Dedicated Kensington & Chelsea respite page; short-term respite on the Westminster live-in list	No published from-price
3	Right at Home Camden, Hampstead & Golders Green	105	Outstanding	Report published 8 Nov 2024	Dedicated respite page for Camden, Hampstead and Golders Green	Costs "depend"; no from-price
4	Unique Senior Care	95	Outstanding	Report published 27 Aug 2021	Respite live-in from £300 a day or £2,100 a week; 14-day minimum	Inspection more than four years old; registered office in Solihull
5	The Good Care Group	95	Outstanding	Report published 12 Apr 2019	Respite from £285 a day, or £348.50 for couples; hourly respite only in London	Inspection more than four years old; two-week minimum
6	SweetTree Home Care Services	90	Outstanding	Report published 18 Dec 2020	Dedicated London respite page, including live-in cover	Inspection more than four years old; no from-price
7	Helping Hands Kensington & Chelsea	70	Good	Report published 6 Jan 2025	Visiting from £32.40 an hour; live-in from £345 a day; London page also prints £1,595 a week	London FAQ also prints £345 a week; copy still says there is no physical London branch
8	Home Instead Kensington & Chelsea	65	Good	Report published 16 Jan 2026	Dedicated Kensington respite page; live-in listed on the same page	No published from-price
9	Consultus Care and Nursing	55	Good	Report published 20 Feb 2019	Managed live-in respite from £1,100 a week	Inspection more than four years old

Checked 25 October 2026. Scores follow how we rank agencies. Match With Care is not in this table.

We also opened Cera's live-in page, which lists respite among the live-in services. Care Quality Services London is Good, report published 29 May 2021. That scores 50 on this method, so it sits outside these nine.

1. Walfinch Chiswick, Hammersmith & Kensington · 110

Why it ranks here. CQC location 1-12981347805 is Outstanding, report published 16 May 2025. Dementia is listed. Respite is not. The branch live-in page lists respite when the usual caregiver is away, and live-in as a matched carer who moves in. A 24 August 2026 article publishes visiting care from £39 an hour and cites a Homecare Association 2025-26 London minimum of £38.69. Those two website facts put it above the other Outstanding locations.

Where it falls short. No sleeping-night, waking-night or weekly respite from-price sat on the pages we opened. Coverage is west and central London, not Greater London.

Sources: CQC, live-in and respite listing, £39 article.

2. Bluebird Care (Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea) · 105

Why it ranks here. CQC location 1-2120838566 is Outstanding, report published 17 April 2026. Dementia is listed. This is the most recently inspected Outstanding location in the set. The Kensington & Chelsea respite page describes a single week, fortnightly breaks or emergency cover, and lists live-in. The Westminster site lists respite under visiting care and "short term respite care" under live-in.

Where it falls short. No from-price sat on either page, so the price bonus is zero. It trails Walfinch by those five points.

Sources: CQC, Kensington & Chelsea respite, Westminster site.

3. Right at Home Camden, Hampstead & Golders Green · 105

Why it ranks here. CQC location 1-12675622003 is Outstanding, report published 8 November 2024. Dementia is listed. The respite page is a dedicated service for Camden, Hampstead and Golders Green. It restates the Outstanding rating, names walks on Hampstead Heath and coffee at Gail's in Belsize Park, and says cover can be a short period or a number of weeks.

Where it falls short. The FAQ says the cost depends on the level and duration of support. No from-price, so it ties Bluebird on 105 and loses the tie-break on inspection date.

Sources: CQC, respite care.

4. Unique Senior Care · 95

Why it ranks here. Unique Care, for this list, is Unique Senior Care. CQC location 1-7601685405 in Knowle, Solihull, is Outstanding, report published 27 August 2021. Dementia is listed. The live-in costs page (updated 7 October 2026) publishes respite live-in from £300 a day, or £355 for a couple, with a 14-day minimum. The same FAQ puts that at £2,100 a week, against ongoing live-in from £1,855. The live-in respite page says care can often start within 24 hours in an emergency, and that live-in runs across England, including London.

Where it falls short. The inspection is more than four years old, so it loses 15 points. The registered office is in Solihull. The 14-day minimum would have missed Priya's 10-day gap.

Sources: CQC, live-in costs, live-in respite.

5. The Good Care Group · 95

Why it ranks here. CQC location 1-1489174477 at Portsoken House, Minories, is Outstanding, report published 12 April 2019. Dementia is listed. The respite page publishes live-in respite from £285 a day, or £348.50 for couples, with a two-week minimum that can be split across the year. Hourly respite is "only available for clients based in London." The costs page publishes hourly care from £40 and live-in from £256 a day.

Where it falls short. The inspection is more than four years old. CQC last reviewed the information on 6 July 2023 and did not reassess. Unique's 2021 report is newer, so Unique takes the 95 tie.

Sources: CQC, respite care, costs.

6. SweetTree Home Care Services · 90

Why it ranks here. CQC location 1-123765456 at Coleridge House, Swiss Cottage, is Outstanding, report published 18 December 2020. Dementia is listed. The London respite page describes a few hours, a full day, overnight, holiday cover or several weeks, and has a live-in respite section. The same page says SweetTree holds 9.7/10 on Homecare.co.uk.

Where it falls short. The inspection is more than four years old. CQC last reviewed the information on 6 July 2023 and did not reassess. No hourly or weekly from-price sat on the respite page, so it trails Unique and The Good Care Group, who printed one.

Sources: CQC, respite care.

7. Helping Hands Kensington & Chelsea · 70

Why it ranks here. CQC location 1-4525796531 at 151 Freston Road, W10, is Good, report published 6 January 2025. Dementia is listed. The national respite cost page (reviewed 20 March 2026) publishes visiting respite from £32.40 an hour, a £4.50 call-out, a £100 assessment fee if you only take short-term support, and live-in from £345 a day, dropping to weekly prices after 28 days. The London respite page publishes live-in from £1,595 a week and visiting from £31 an hour in one block, then £32.40 in the FAQ.

Where it falls short. The London page still says "we do not have a physical branch in London" even though CQC registers this Kensington & Chelsea location. The same FAQ prints respite live-in from £345 a week. That is not the £345 a day on the national cost page.

Sources: CQC, respite costs, London respite.

8. Home Instead Kensington & Chelsea · 65

Why it ranks here. CQC location 1-452823580 at 286 Old Brompton Road is Good, report published 16 January 2026. Dementia is listed. The Kensington respite page describes emergency, regular or one-off cover, names Kensington High Street, and lists live-in on the same page.

Where it falls short. No from-price on the pages we opened. This score is this franchise, not every London office.

Sources: CQC, Kensington respite.

9. Consultus Care and Nursing · 55

Why it ranks here. CQC location 1-120788654 in Tonbridge is Good, report published 20 February 2019. Dementia is listed. The respite costs page publishes managed live-in respite from £1,100 a week. Introductory live-in is a different, non-CQC product; we scored the managed service.

Where it falls short. The inspection is more than four years old. CQC last reviewed the information on 6 July 2023 and did not reassess.

Sources: CQC, respite costs.

Best-for picks from the same scores

• Highest score in this respite set: Walfinch Chiswick, Hammersmith & Kensington, 110, because it also published an hourly from-price.
• Most recently inspected Outstanding: Bluebird Care (Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea), report published 17 April 2026.
• Lowest website-checked published hourly from-price: Helping Hands, from £32.40 an hour. Walfinch publishes visiting care from £39. The Good Care Group publishes hourly care from £40.
• Lowest website-checked live-in respite day rate: The Good Care Group, from £285 a day. Unique publishes from £300 a day. Helping Hands publishes from £345 a day.

Remember the £345 on Helping Hands' national cost page? The London FAQ printed the same number as a weekly figure. I would not book a week on the back of that FAQ.

The NHS homecare page still prints £15 to £30 an hour. Helping Hands visiting respite starts at £32.40, plus a £4.50 call-out. That is a London quote, not the NHS band.

If you want an introductory platform instead of a CQC-inspected agency, that is a different list: best respite care platforms in the UK. Related: what is respite care and how to get a care needs assessment.

Match With Care. Our service. Not CQC-registered, different model. Best for choosing and paying your carer directly. We introduce self-employed carers, including short-term live-in and visiting cover; you pick the person and you direct day-to-day care. See home care platforms.

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We run Match With Care as an introductory care marketplace, not a CQC-registered agency. If you want us to introduce a vetted self-employed carer for a short break at home, see who is available. We will tell you the 15% fee before you choose.