Accessible summary When physiotherapists work with patients, they usually have to ask patients’ carers to carry out the physiotherapy. Physiotherapy by carers is often not completed. Carers have lots of work to do with patients and physiotherapy is often a low priority for them. Interviews with carers showed that they want more follow‐up and support from physiotherapists. SummaryThrough the use of face‐to‐face interviews, this article explores residential carers’ perceptions and understanding of a physiotherapy service provided to patients with a learning disability, with the aim of highlighting potential areas for improvement in the service. Carers involved in the study reported a good relationship with the physiotherapists, possessed a clear understanding of physiotherapy, and made positive commends regarding training they received. However, they reported a lack of follow‐up by the physiotherapists to be a problem, and their responses indicated a perceived lack of support from the physiotherapy team. Carers also rated physical management programmes as being low on their daily priority list for patients’ care. A lack of observable rewards for both carers and patients was hypothesised as a contributory factor, and following discussion with the team a structured follow‐up protocol was suggested to support carers when carrying out physical management programmes.