Adult-support role chooser
Carer, companion or housekeeper: which role do you need?
Start with the task: regulated personal care points towards an appropriate care provider, company and practical support may fit a companion, while cleaning and household management point towards a housekeeper.
What is the quickest way to choose the right role?
If the person needs physical help with washing, dressing, toileting or another regulated personal-care task, use an appropriate regulated care provider. If the main need is social contact, accompanied outings, shopping, simple meals and manageable practical support, a non-clinical companion may fit. If the main need is cleaning, laundry, household organisation or broader domestic management, a housekeeper is usually the clearer role.
A household can need more than one service. A housekeeper should not quietly acquire personal-care duties because they happen to work in the home, and a companion should not become a full housekeeper or regulated carer by accumulation. When needs cross those boundaries, split the work or choose a provider whose scope actually covers the required task.
Role chooser: match the recurring need to the appropriate support.
Use the dominant recurring task. Occasional overlap does not erase the primary purpose of the role.
Why the word “carer” needs clarification.
Families use it to describe everything from company to complex personal care. Those are not interchangeable services.
Choose a companion when the primary gap is company and day-to-day practical support.
A companion can help preserve routine without pretending to be a regulated care service.
understand introductory companion care for a detailed scope-in and scope-out explanation.
Choose a housekeeper when the home, not the person's care, is the main workload.
A housekeeper supports the operation of the household. That can improve daily life without making the position a care role.
Cleaning rooms, bathrooms and kitchens, maintaining standards and managing recurring household routines.
These are domestic responsibilities and can form a substantial part of a housekeeper job.
Restocking, coordinating routine household tasks and keeping agreed areas organised can belong in a housekeeper brief.
Helping keep a home organised is different from physically assisting the resident to wash, dress or use the toilet.
From our work
We ask what the household wants done before deciding what to call the person doing it.
Filipino Domestic Services' current staffing process asks households to describe the role, recurring duties, postcode, live-in or live-out arrangement, normal days and hours and preferred start date. For adult support, that task list is essential because “carer” can mean very different things to different families.
If the brief is company, outings, shopping, simple meals and manageable practical help, we can test whether a non-clinical companion introduction fits. If the brief is primarily cleaning, laundry and household management, it belongs on the housekeeper side. If the family is asking for washing, dressing, toileting, nursing, treatment or another regulated or clinical task, we do not relabel that need to fit an FDS companion service.
This also prevents nationality from becoming a proxy for role fit. We do not treat being Filipino as evidence of personality, domestic ability or suitability for supporting an older person. The candidate is assessed as an individual against the work the household has defined. Filipino Domestic Services introduces candidates; the household makes the employment decision and remains responsible for the resulting employment arrangement.
Sometimes the right answer is two roles, not one overloaded role.
Combining incompatible responsibilities can create gaps in care, poor household outcomes and unrealistic working hours.
Questions about choosing a carer, companion or housekeeper.
What is the difference between a carer and a companion?
“Carer” is a broad everyday term and can include regulated personal-care work. A companion, as FDS uses the term, provides non-clinical company and practical support such as outings, shopping and simple meals. Regulated personal-care tasks should be provided through an appropriate registered service.
What is the difference between a companion and a housekeeper?
A companion's primary purpose is social contact, routine and practical support for a person. A housekeeper's primary purpose is maintaining and organising the home through cleaning, laundry and other household duties. Some practical tasks can overlap, but the dominant workload should remain clear.
Can a housekeeper also help an elderly person?
A housekeeper can make daily life easier through household tasks and ordinary practical help, but the role should not acquire regulated personal-care or clinical duties. If those needs exist, the household should arrange the appropriate care service separately.
Can a companion be live-in?
Yes. A non-clinical companion can be live-in where the household can provide suitable private accommodation and clearly define working hours, breaks, duties and genuine off-duty time.
What if my parent needs both personal care and household help?
You may need more than one service. An appropriate regulated provider can cover personal care, while a separate housekeeper or non-clinical companion handles household or social-support tasks. Define the boundaries so neither role is expected to perform work outside its scope.
Does Filipino Domestic Services provide regulated carers?
Filipino Domestic Services provides household staffing introductions for non-clinical companion support. It is not a regulated care provider and does not provide nursing, medical treatment or regulated personal care.
Source and care-scope boundary.
The regulated-care distinction on this page follows current CQC guidance. The role examples describe FDS household staffing, not an assessment of an individual's care needs.
Write the task list, then choose the route.
Once the dominant responsibilities are clear, compare candidates or regulated providers that actually match the work.