Family care plan template: what to include and how to share it

A free-to-copy family care plan template for UK carers: what to write, who to share it with.

By The KinCarer team · 20 October 2026

A family care plan is one shared document that holds everything the people around your elderly parent need to know: who they are, what they need each day, who does what, and what happens in an emergency. You can copy the template below into a notebook, a Word document or an app, and fill it in over an evening with your mum or dad and your siblings.

If you are reading this at the end of a long week of phone calls, you are not alone in feeling the emotional weight of it. A plan will not take the caring away, but it can stop one person carrying the organising on their own.

TL;DR

A family care plan is an informal, living document. It is different from the formal care and support plan a council writes after an assessment, though the two work well together.
Cover ten areas: personal details, health contacts, medication, daily routine, tasks and roles, appointments, emergency plan, money and legal documents, wishes, and a review date.
Write it in your parent’s voice where you can. It keeps the focus on what they want, not just what the family decides.
Review it every six months. An out-of-date plan is the most common reason a plan fails in a crisis.
Keep one shared copy, not five versions scattered across WhatsApp and email.

Family plan or council plan: what is the difference?
Before you start: three ways to make the plan work
The family care plan template
How to build it in an evening
Keeping the plan alive
Our view: why paper plans stall, and what we do about it
Turn your template into a shared care circle
FAQ
Sources

Family plan or council plan: what is the difference?

The word “care plan” covers two quite different things, and it helps to know which one you are building.

The formal plan. If your parent has a needs assessment and is eligible for support, the council prepares a care and support plan. According to the NHS, it sets out the type of support needed, how it will be given, and how much money the council will spend on it. Under section 25 of the Care Act 2014, a care and support plan is a document prepared by the local authority, and carers can have their own support plan too. Plans are normally reviewed within the first few months and then at least once a year, as the NHS guide explains.

The family plan. This is the one you write yourselves. Nobody has to approve it, and it is not tied to funding. Even if your parent pays for their own care or has no council help at all, the same structure still works as a way to organise support. It is also useful alongside a formal plan, because it holds the day-to-day detail that a council document does not: which neighbour has the spare key, what mum likes for breakfast, who is taking her to the dentist on Thursday.

The two should not contradict each other. If a social worker has written a plan, read it first and copy the key points across.

Family plan or council plan: what is the difference? — overview diagram

Before you start: three ways to make the plan work

The template is the easy part. These habits decide whether the plan is still being used in six months.

Write it with your parent, not about them

The NHS guidance frames the aim of a care plan as helping someone stay as independent as possible and keep control of their life. Sitting down together to build it is part of that. You will often find strengths and preferences that never come up in a rush of appointments.

Where you can, write in the first person. NHS mental health guidance on writing a good care plan is written around what “you” need and want, and the same approach suits a family plan. “I like a cup of tea before I get dressed” is easier for a cousin or a new home care agency worker to respect than “Mum needs tea in the morning”. It also helps a brother who lives three hours away keep in mind what your mum actually wants.

Decide who can see and edit it

A plan with sensitive health details should not be open to everyone. Agree up front who can read it, who can change it and who simply needs the emergency page. Paid carers may need the daily routine but not the finances.

Pick one home for it

The usual failure is not a missing plan but several half-plans: one in a folder, one in a group chat, one in your head. Choose a single place and say so. If you are unsure how to do that without a long family meeting, our guide to setting up a shared care plan in one meeting walks through it.

The family care plan template

Copy each heading below and fill in what applies. Leave blanks as “to find out”, so the gaps are visible rather than forgotten.

1. About me

Full name, preferred name, date of birth, address
NHS number (if your parent is happy to share it)
Who I live with, and who lives nearby
What matters most to me: routines, hobbies, faith, people, pets
How I like to be spoken to, and what upsets or worries me
Languages spoken and any communication needs (hearing aids, glasses, dentures)

2. My health team

GP surgery name, phone number and the best way to book appointments
Pharmacy and what days they deliver
Hospital consultants and clinics, with the condition each one covers
District nurse, community team or social worker, if any
Dentist, optician, chiropodist

This is a list of contacts and appointments, not a place for your own medical opinions. If you are unsure what something means, ask the GP or pharmacist.

3. My medication

Each medicine, the dose and time as written on the label or by the prescriber
Where medicines are kept and who sets them up
Allergies
Who orders repeat prescriptions, and when the next order is due
What to do if a dose is missed: write “ask pharmacist” or the instruction the prescriber gave you, rather than guessing

If repeat prescriptions are a regular headache, see our notes on managing UK repeat prescriptions and on medication reminder apps.

4. A normal day

Getting up, washing and dressing: what help is needed and what I prefer to do myself
Meals: what I like, what I avoid, who prepares them, any swallowing or dietary guidance given by a professional
Mobility: walking aids, stairs, hoists, falls history
Continence products and who supplies them
Sleep, evening routine, night-time worries
Social time: clubs, calls, visitors

Be specific about the small things. These are what a stand-in carer would otherwise have to guess.

5. Who does what

This is where a family plan earns its keep. Make a simple table:

Task	Who	How often	Backup
Weekly shop	Sam	Weekly, Tuesday	Priya
Medication check	Priya	Every Sunday	Sam
GP and hospital appointments	Sam	As booked	Neighbour (lifts)
Phone call check-in	Jo (remote)	Daily, 6pm	Priya
Paperwork and bills	Jo	Monthly	Sam

The names are examples. The point is that every task has an owner and a backup, and that long-distance relatives get real jobs. Remote siblings can often take on phone calls, paperwork, online shopping and appointment booking. Our guide to coordinating care remotely covers how to name roles in a day or two.

6. Appointments and check-ins

Upcoming appointments, who is going, and who is taking notes
Where the letters and test results go
How and when family check in, and what to do if there is no answer
A “what happened today” note for handovers between family members and paid carers

7. Emergency plan

This page should be printable and kept somewhere obvious. Carers UK advises every carer to make an emergency plan, and suggests including contact details, who to call in an emergency, medication and where it is stored, ongoing treatment, allergies, GP and pharmacy, services received, mobility aids and anything behavioural others need to know.

Key details to include in an emergency care plan

Go one step further and add clear instructions for the practical things. Carers UK’s emergency guidance is the source for this idea: a stranger stepping in should not have to guess. So note where the spare key is, how the hoist works, which noises or routines upset your parent, and who feeds the cat.

Carers UK also offers an online tool for building an emergency plan, called MyBackUp, which you can find via its contingency plan page. For printable contact sheets, we have four emergency contact list templates, and if you work as well as care, this guide to a one page emergency plan may help.

8. Documents and money

Where important papers are kept: LPA documents, Do Not Attempt CPR forms if they exist, benefit letters, insurance, tenancy or mortgage details
Who has access to bank accounts and under what authority
Benefits your parent receives, with renewal dates
The name of the council and the adult social care contact

Do not store passwords or bank details in a plan that many people can read. Note where they are held instead. For how to organise the paperwork itself, see our guide to one emergency folder for care documents.

9. My wishes for the future

This section is the hardest to start, and the most valuable. The NHS explains that planning ahead (sometimes called advance care planning) means thinking and talking about your wishes for how you are cared for, in case you later cannot make those decisions yourself.

A daily care plan does not replace that. If your parent wants someone to be able to make decisions for them, a lasting power of attorney (LPA) is the legal route. On GOV.UK, the lasting power of attorney overview explains there are two types, health and welfare, and property and financial affairs, and that the person making it must have mental capacity at the time. It also notes an LPA made there is legally binding only in England and Wales, with different routes in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Because laws and fees change, check the page before you start.

In your family plan, simply record what has been decided and where the documents are. If nothing has been decided, write “to discuss” and put a date on it.

10. Review

Date the plan was last updated, and by whom
Next review date
What would trigger an early review: a hospital stay, a fall, a change in medication, a new carer

How to build it in an evening

Gather the basics. Collect appointment letters, medication lists and contact numbers in one pile.
Talk to your parent first. Ask what a good day looks like and what they worry about. Write their words down.
Fill in sections 1 to 4. These are facts, and quick to complete.
Call the family. Share a draft, then agree the roles table together. Even a 20-minute call is enough.
Write the emergency page. Print it, and give a copy to whoever would be first on the scene.
Set a review date. Put it in everyone’s calendar.

Remember: a plan that is 70% complete and shared is far more useful than a perfect one nobody has seen.

Keeping the plan alive

Most plans are written once and forgotten. Practical advice from carer organisations is to schedule a review about every six months, going through contact details, medication lists and emergency information. Use the review to ask three questions:

Has anything changed in health, mobility or memory?
Is someone doing too much?
Are the right people still on the list?

The second question matters. Informal plans tend to drift towards one person, usually the one who lives closest. If the roles table has quietly become a list of your tasks, it is time to talk.

Use the plan in an assessment

You can bring your family plan to a council needs assessment. It gives the assessor a clear picture of daily life. The Local Government Association notes that the Care Act 2014 asks councils to take a whole-family approach and to consider the impact of someone’s care needs on their family. That means your own needs, such as breaks or training, are a legitimate part of the conversation. Councils such as Cambridgeshire explain how their own care and support plan process works, so check your local authority’s page.

Our view: why paper plans stall, and what we do about it

We built KinCarer because we kept seeing the same pattern in families. The plan is written, usually by one person, and then the real information lives somewhere else: buried in a WhatsApp thread, in a text from the care provider, in someone’s memory. Within weeks, nobody is sure which version is current.

Our view is that a care plan should be a place where things happen, not a document that records them. That is why a KinCarer care circle puts tasks, appointments, check-ins, medication reminders, notes and handover updates in the same place, and lets relatives and paid carers be invited in with controlled permissions. Everyone sees what has happened and what still needs doing, and one subscription covers every invited member.

We also think technology should know its limits. Clara, our optional AI assistant, helps you search and summarise what is in your care circle, such as “what did the nurse say last week?”. Clara does not give medical, legal or clinical advice, and it should not. Those questions belong with your GP, pharmacist or solicitor.

KinCarer is for families coordinating care. It is not designed for care homes, rota management for paid staff or clinical care providers.

— KinCarer

Turn your template into a shared care circle

If you would rather not maintain a document by hand, you can use this template as your checklist inside KinCarer. Create a care circle, invite your siblings and any paid carers, and add tasks, appointments and medication reminders as you go. KinCarer starts with a 14-day free trial, then Family+ monthly or yearly, one subscription covers everyone you invite, and you can download the app from the App Store or Google Play.

FAQ

What should be documented in a care plan?

Start with who the person is and what matters to them, then add their health contacts, medication, daily routine, who does which task, appointments, emergency details and where legal documents are kept. A formal council plan, according to the NHS, also covers the type of support, how it is delivered and the council’s spending. Your family version can be simpler, but should always include an emergency page.

Do I need a formal care plan, or is a family plan enough?

They do different jobs. A formal plan is prepared by the council after an assessment and is linked to eligibility and funding. A family plan is for coordinating everyday help and works whether or not the council is involved. If you think your parent may be eligible for support, you can ask your local council for an assessment.

How often should we update the plan?

A review about every six months is a sensible rhythm, and sooner after a hospital stay, a fall or a change in medication. Formal council plans are reviewed at least once a year, according to the NHS. Put the date in everyone’s calendar so it does not rely on one person remembering.

Should the plan be written in my parent’s voice?

Where possible, yes. NHS care planning guidance uses first-person language because it keeps the focus on the person’s own goals and preferences. It also helps siblings and paid carers respect what your mum or dad actually wants, not only what the family has decided.