Starting my job search in the UK, I wasn’t sure what type of job I was looking for and when I discovered live-in jobs, they almost seemed too good to be true.
When I first arrived, I volunteered in exchange for accommodation through platforms like Worldpackers and Trusted Housesitters. So, finding out that there were paid roles that included accommodation felt like the perfect opportunity.
I’ve since settled into a position at a hotel in the Lake District in England, where I live and work as a General Assistant. My typical duties include house keeping, cooking and reception. The best part is that I live rent free in a private en-suite room, with breakfast included. I usually get two days off each week, giving me time to travel and work on my blog.
This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about finding a live-in job in the UK.
Short on time? Here’s the cheat sheet:
🏨 A live-in job means you live on-site where you work. Most common in hospitality, but also care work, farm work and nannying.
💸 The big draw is the cost of living. Accommodation is usually free with bills included, and any contribution is typically under £100 per month.
🛂 You need the legal right to work in the UK. For Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders and others, that usually means the Youth Mobility Scheme visa. There’s an upper age limit, and a few nationalities have to be balloted, so confirm both before you plan around it (see the section below for costs and where to look them up).
📅 Many roles are seasonal, running roughly March/April to September/October.
🏔️ Lots of positions are remote, like the Scottish Highlands or the Lake District, which is either the appeal or the drawback depending on you.
💰 Pay is often at or near minimum wage, but with almost no living costs it can still add up fast.
⚖️ Check what you’re charged for accommodation. There’s a limit on how much of its value counts towards your minimum wage, and anything you’re charged above that comes out of your countable pay.
What is a Live-In Job?
A live-in job is where you live on-site at your workplace, for example working in a hotel and also residing there.
These jobs are common across industries such as hospitality (chefs, front-of-house staff, housekeeping), care work, farm work, and nannying.
While live-in jobs aren’t exclusive to the UK, they are widely available here, particularly in more remote locations like the Scottish Highlands. Many are seasonal, especially in hospitality with roles typically running from March or April through to September or October.
These positions are especially suited to travellers, gap year students, or anyone looking for flexible work while exploring the UK.
Requirements for Live-In Jobs in the UK
To apply for most live-in roles, you’ll typically need:
- To be at least 18 years old. The Youth Mobility Scheme also has an upper age limit that varies by nationality, so confirm yours on gov.uk
- The legal right to live and work in the UK (see the next section)
- Relevant experience or qualifications (depending on the role)
- A good level of spoken and written English
- A clean criminal record check (DBS), particularly for care roles. DBS covers England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland run their own equivalents, worth knowing if you’re heading for the Highlands. If you’re working directly for a household as a nanny or live-in carer, they can’t request a check on your behalf, so you apply for a basic check yourself, which costs £21.50
Your Right to Work in the UK
A live-in job is real employment, so you need permission to work in the UK before you can start. Employers have to check your right to work before they employ you, so it’s worth having your visa position sorted early.
I’m here on the Youth Mobility Scheme visa. Australians tend to call it a working holiday visa, but Youth Mobility Scheme is the official name, and using it makes the government guidance much easier to find.
The short version of how it works: it’s a two-year permission to live and work in the UK, and if you’re from Australia, Canada or New Zealand you can apply to extend for a third year. You’ll need to show savings in your account, pay an application fee, and pay the immigration health surcharge, which is what gives you NHS access. At the time of writing the application fee is £340, and the health surcharge is £776 for each year of the visa, charged as one payment when you apply rather than annually. On a two-year visa that’s £1,552 of surcharge, so £1,892 leaves your account at the point you apply. The £2,530 in savings is separate money: you show it rather than spend it, and you need to have held it for 28 days in a row, with day 28 falling within 31 days of applying.
Who qualifies depends on your nationality and your age. There’s an upper age limit as well as the lower one, and the cut-off is higher for some nationalities than others, so check which band you fall into before you build a plan around this visa. A few other things rule you out regardless of age: children under 18 who live with you, children you’re financially responsible for, or having already been in the UK under the scheme. If the Youth Mobility Scheme is closed to you for any of those reasons, it isn’t the only way into the UK. gov.uk/check-uk-visa will tell you which routes you can apply for based on your nationality and circumstances.
Most nationalities apply directly. A few have to be selected in a ballot before they can apply at all, and if that’s you it’s worth knowing early, because the ballot opens for only 48 hours at a time. At the time of writing both 2026 rounds have closed, with the next expected in 2027. Rather than reproduce a list here that will be out of date by the time you read it, check gov.uk/youth-mobility for the current nationalities, age limits, fees and document checklist, and the separate ballot guidance for who is balloted and when the next window opens. Those are the only versions that count.
Types of Live-In Jobs
Live-in jobs are available across a range of industries, with responsibilities depending on the role.
Hospitality Jobs (Hotels, Pubs)
These are the most common live-in roles. Positions include housekeeping, front of house, bar staff, cooks and general assistants. While experience is helpful, many roles offer on-the-job training and don’t require formal qualifications.
Caregiver/Support Worker Roles
These roles involve supporting elderly individuals or people with disabilities. Some positions require you to hold formal qualifications, although others provide training. You’ll often live in the client’s home.
Farm Work
Farm work varies significantly but can include picking fruit or vegetables, working with livestock, or general maintenance. Hours can be long, but the pay can be competitive, especially during peak seasons.
Farm work has its own visa route if you aren’t eligible for the Youth Mobility Scheme. The Seasonal Worker visa covers horticulture, meaning fruit, vegetables and flowers, for up to six months, plus poultry work from 2 October to 31 December, with poultry applications closing on 15 November each year. It doesn’t cover general farm labouring or work with other livestock, and you need a licensed scheme operator to sponsor you rather than applying on your own.
Nannying
Nanny positions involve caring for children, along with light household duties. You’ll usually live in the family home with your own private bedroom. Experience in childcare and certifications like first aid are often required.
Benefits of Live-In Jobs
There are many benefits to live-in jobs, the biggest being the significantly low cost of living. Most jobs include free accommodation with bills included, and some also provide meals during shifts. Occasionally, a small contribution is required (typically under £100 per month).
This makes it an easy way to save money, especially if you’re planning to balance work and travel. There’s also no commute, meaning you save both time and money.
Live-in roles also make moving abroad an easy transition. You don’t need to worry about finding housing, buying furniture or setting up utilities as everything is ready for you to move in when you arrive.
Accommodation varies depending on the job. Some offer shared dorm style living shared with other staff, while others provide private rooms with ensuite bathrooms. Then in positions based on a family home, you’ll usually have your own private bedroom.
Downsides to Consider Before You Commit
While there are plenty of benefits, there are some downsides to consider before you commit.
Many live-in jobs are located in remote areas, such as the Scottish Highlands or islands, which can make tasks like shopping or travelling more challenging.
These roles are often seasonal, particularly in hospitality, meaning you may only work between March/April and September/October. While this works really well for some people who work and save during the season, then travel during the off-season, others may prefer more stable, long-term employment.
Pay is often at or near minimum wage. However, because living expenses are so low, many people find it financially worthwhile.
It can also be difficult to maintain a work-life balance when you live where you work. Setting boundaries and making the most of your time off is key.
The part that’s easiest to miss is that your home belongs to your employer. If the job ends, whether you resign, they let you go, or the season finishes early, your accommodation usually ends with it, and often somewhere remote with no rental market to fall back on. Before you accept a role, ask how much notice you’d get on the room, and arrive with enough money and a backup plan to cover a couple of weeks if you need to move quickly.
Why live-in pay can look below minimum wage and still be legal
If your accommodation is free, its value counts towards your minimum wage. From April 2026 that’s £11.10 a day, or £77.70 a week. The headline minimum wage itself is £12.71 an hour if you’re 21 or over, and £10.85 if you’re 18 to 20, with apprentices on £8 if they’re under 19, or in the first year of an apprenticeship. So your cash hourly rate can sit below that and the job can still be compliant, because the room is treated as part of what you’re paid. As a rough check, on a 40-hour week at the 21-and-over rate, free accommodation means your cash rate could be about £10.77 an hour and the job would still be legal.
Two things worth knowing. Meals don’t count. Accommodation is the only benefit that can be offset this way, so free breakfast or staff food doesn’t change the calculation. And what happens if you are charged for the room depends on how much. If the charge is at or below the accommodation offset, it doesn’t affect the pay that counts towards your minimum wage at all. A contribution under £100 a month works out around £23 a week, well inside that, so most live-in contributions fall here. Only if you’re charged more than the offset rate does the excess come off the pay that counts toward the minimum wage.
One more thing if you’re looking at live-in care. Whether the hours you’re allowed to sleep through count towards minimum wage depends on what you’re actually doing. Time when you’re carrying work responsibilities counts even if you’re allowed to nap, while time when you’re simply available at the workplace and given somewhere to sleep generally doesn’t. On a sleep-in shift that distinction is often worth more than the accommodation offset, so ask how your contract treats your nights.
Current rates: gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-accommodation and gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates. How sleep-in hours are counted: gov.uk/minimum-wage-different-types-work.
How to Find Live-In Jobs in the UK
You can find positions advertised in a number of places.
I found my job through a Facebook group for jobs with live-in accommodation where roles are advertised regularly, especially at the start of the season.
You can also search online job platforms like Indeed using keywords such as “live-in” or “free accommodation”.
If you’re wanting to work in a certain area of the UK, you could also try reaching out to hotels, pubs or caravan parks directly to ask about opportunities.
If you’re open to somewhere colder and further north, the same seasonal logic applies elsewhere in Europe. Catriona’s guide to getting a winter seasonal job in Lapland covers a similar work-and-accommodation setup, and there are more options in our roundup of the best jobs abroad.
How to Apply & Get Accepted
When applying, ensure your CV is up to date and highlights any relevant skills or experience. It’s also helpful to include information about your visa or right to work in the UK.
When I applied for my current role, I was a little reluctant about my experience as I had been working in the banking industry for over a decade and hadn’t worked a hospitality job since high school. To strengthen my application, I reached out to the Manager directly to ask a few questions about the role. I also shared my Trusted Housesitters profile as a form of reference to demonstrate my recent experience.
Even without recent hospitality experience, being proactive and personable helped my application stand out.
It’s also important to watch for red flags. Check staff reviews on platforms like Glassdoor, as they can reveal issues such as poor living conditions or unrealistic expectations. Another thing to check is if a role is frequently re-advertised, it may indicate high staff turnover.
Is a Live-In Job in the UK Right for You?
What once seemed too good to be true, finding a paid job with free accommodation, is now my reality.
I’d recommend live-in jobs to anyone looking to combine travel with living and working in the UK. They’re the perfect opportunity for those on a working holiday visa and wanting an easy, affordable way to get started.
Maddison writes about her travels at Palms and Postcards.
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