FAQ Answers
About Assistome
What does Assistome do?
Assistome provides flexible home and lifestyle support designed to make everyday life easier.
Our services include home cleaning, laundry and organisation, cooking and meal preparation, errands, companionship and wellbeing, dog walking and pet care, and scam awareness and prevention.
Support can be arranged regularly or occasionally and tailored around what would be most helpful to you.
Who can benefit from Assistome?
Assistome is for anyone who would benefit from a trusted helping hand with everyday life.
Our customers may include individuals and families, busy professionals and retirees, people recovering from illness or surgery, those experiencing changes in their circumstances, people who would benefit from companionship, or anyone looking for support to maintain their independence.
Is Assistome a care agency?
No. Assistome provides practical home and lifestyle support and companionship, but we do not provide regulated personal care.
If your needs fall outside the services we provide, we'll be open about this and, where appropriate, help signpost you towards other sources of support.
What areas do you cover?
Assistome is initially focusing on Stourbridge, allowing us to build a strong local customer base and provide reliable, consistent support.
We plan to expand into surrounding areas over the coming months. If you live nearby and are interested in Assistome support, please get in touch — we'd be happy to discuss availability or register your interest.
Services & Flexibility
What can Assistome help me with?
Our Home & Lifestyle Support can include cleaning, laundry, home organisation, cooking and meal preparation, errands, companionship and other agreed practical tasks.
We also offer dog walking and pet care, together with scam awareness and prevention support.
You can find full details of each service on our Services page.
Can I choose how I use my support time?
Yes. Your Home & Lifestyle Support is designed around what would be most helpful to you rather than being restricted to one particular task.
For example, you might want to focus on cleaning one week and use your next visit for a combination of cleaning, laundry and home organisation.
Can my support change from one visit to the next?
Yes. We understand that priorities change.
You can discuss what you'd like to focus on during each visit with your Home & Lifestyle Support Professional, provided the tasks are within the services we offer.
Do I need to provide cleaning products and equipment?
Yes. For services such as cleaning, laundry and cooking, we use your own household products and equipment. This means we can use the products you know and prefer and helps avoid products and equipment being carried between customers' homes.
We'll discuss anything you need to have available during your initial consultation.
Do you offer one-off or occasional support?
Yes. You don't need to commit to regular support or a Support Plan.
Our services can be arranged on an occasional or one-off basis, subject to availability and the applicable minimum booking period.
What if my needs or circumstances change?
Your support can be reviewed as your needs, circumstances or priorities change.
We'll discuss any adjustments with you and agree how your support should develop. If your needs move beyond the scope of Assistome's services, we'll be open about this and, where appropriate, help signpost you towards other sources of support.
Booking & Pricing
How do I arrange support?
Simply get in touch by phone, email or through our website.
We'll arrange a free, no-obligation consultation to discuss the support you're looking for and how Assistome could help.
What happens during the initial consultation?
The consultation gives us an opportunity to understand your circumstances, discuss the support you're looking for, answer any questions and agree what would work best for you.
There is no obligation to proceed following the consultation.
How much does Home & Lifestyle Support cost?
Home & Lifestyle Support starts from £28 per hour, depending on the duration of your booking.
Lower hourly rates apply to longer consecutive bookings. Full prices can be found on our Services page.
Is there a minimum booking?
Yes. The minimum booking for Home & Lifestyle Support is one hour.
Can I change, rearrange or cancel an appointment?
Yes. With more than 48 hours' notice, appointments can be cancelled without charge or rearranged, subject to availability.
A 50% cancellation charge applies between 24 and 48 hours, and a 100% charge applies with less than 24 hours' notice, including no-shows or where we are unable to gain access.
Where we are able to refill the appointment, the cancellation charge will be reviewed. Exceptional circumstances may also be considered.
Full details are available in our Terms & Conditions.
When do I pay for my support?
Services are paid in advance to secure your booking, with Support Plans paid monthly in advance.
Any additional charges that could not be calculated beforehand, such as agreed mileage or additional support time, will be confirmed separately.
Full details are available in our Terms & Conditions.
Do you charge for travel or mileage?
Where agreed mileage is required as part of your Home & Lifestyle Support, including journeys with you or errands undertaken on your behalf, this is charged at 45p per mile.
Transport is ancillary to wider Home & Lifestyle Support and cannot be booked as a standalone journey or transport service.
Regular Support & Plans
Can I arrange regular support without choosing a Support Plan?
Yes. You can arrange regular support without joining one of our monthly Support Plans.
For example, you might choose to have two hours of Home & Lifestyle Support each week and simply pay the applicable hourly rate.
What's the difference between regular support and a Support Plan?
Regular support means arranging recurring visits at a frequency that works for you, such as weekly or fortnightly.
Our Support Plans are designed for customers who would like a greater level of planned monthly support and include additional benefits alongside their regular services.
What Support Plans do you offer?
We offer a choice of Support Plans designed around different needs and circumstances:
Flexible Support Plan — regular Home & Lifestyle Support with flexibility over how your support time is used.
Home & Lifestyle Plan — regular Home & Lifestyle Support combined with group dog walking and additional plan benefits.
Reassurance & Wellbeing Plan — regular Home & Lifestyle Support with additional wellbeing contact and reassurance.
Full inclusions and prices can be found on our Services page.
Are Support Plans better value?
Yes. Our Support Plans are designed to provide better overall value for customers who would benefit from a greater level of regular support.
Depending on the plan, this can include additional services and benefits alongside your regular Home & Lifestyle Support.
Can I still choose what I need help with if I'm on a Support Plan?
Yes. Your Home & Lifestyle Support time remains flexible.
You can change the tasks you'd like to focus on from visit to visit, provided they're within the services included in your plan.
Trust, Safety & Insurance
Why is safeguarding important to Assistome?
Safeguarding is at the heart of how Assistome works. We understand the trust involved when someone provides support in your home or becomes part of your everyday life.
Through our professional experience, we've also seen first-hand the impact that scams, fraud and rogue traders can have when someone's trust has been broken. This has helped shape our approach to safety, safeguarding, professional boundaries and building trusted relationships.
Are your Home & Lifestyle Support Professionals DBS checked?
Yes. Our Home & Lifestyle Support Professionals undergo an Enhanced DBS check with an Adults' Barred List check, alongside other appropriate pre-employment checks.
Do you continue to carry out checks after someone joins Assistome?
Yes. Our checking doesn't simply stop when someone joins Assistome.
Home & Lifestyle Support Professionals are required to maintain membership of the DBS Update Service, enabling appropriate status checks to be carried out during their employment.
Is Assistome insured?
Yes. Assistome holds appropriate business insurance for the services we provide.
We believe appropriate insurance, checks and professional standards are an important part of providing a service that customers can feel confident welcoming into their homes and everyday lives.
How do you protect my privacy and personal information?
We respect your privacy and handle personal information responsibly in accordance with our data protection and confidentiality requirements.
We only share information where there is an appropriate reason or where you have agreed for us to do so, subject to any legal or safeguarding responsibilities.
What makes Assistome different?
Assistome combines flexible, practical home and lifestyle support with a strong focus on trust, safety, safeguarding and building positive relationships.
Our approach is informed by professional experience spanning policing, Trading Standards and other public-service roles. Our experience within Trading Standards also included helping to protect people from scams, fraud and exploitation.
Family & Trusted Contacts
Can a family member or trusted person be involved?
Yes, if you would like them to be.
With your agreement, a family member or trusted person can be involved in discussions about your support or kept informed where agreed. Your wishes, privacy and choices remain central to how we work.
What if I'm arranging support for someone else?
You're welcome to contact us to discuss support for a family member or someone you care about.
We'll explain how Assistome may be able to help while ensuring that the person receiving support is involved in decisions about their arrangements.
Can Assistome keep my family or someone I trust updated?
Yes, where this has been agreed with you.
We can provide appropriate updates to a nominated family member or trusted contact. Our Reassurance & Wellbeing Plan also includes agreed regular updates as part of the plan.
Can I have the same Home & Lifestyle Support Professional?
We understand how important consistency can be when building a trusted relationship.
Wherever possible, we'll aim to provide continuity of support, although this cannot always be guaranteed because of holidays, sickness or other circumstances.