Paying for residential care

In general everyone living in residential care must pay for it in some way.

You can ask the Council to help you pay for your care, and we will complete a financial assessment with you to decide how much help we can offer you and how much you will have to pay yourself.

Short-term care and respite care

If your stay in a care home is intended to last for a limited time, and there is a plan for you to return home, the Council has a standard charge for those with savings less than £23,250. 

This applies for the first 8 weeks of short-term and respite care. 

If your stay is over 8 weeks in total, the standard charge will end, and you will be subject to a full financial assessment from week 9, like the financial assessment for long-term care.

Any Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payment (PIP) you receive are not included in the assessment.

The value of your home is not included in the assessment.

How the financial assessment is carried out

If you move to long-term residential care, you will be asked to provide information about your:

• Income
• Savings and investments
• Property

Only your own income will be included in the financial assessment, and not those of a spouse or partner.

However, we do need to consider the share of savings and property you own jointly with another person.

We will also ask you to provide relevant financial documents and paperwork, such as bank statements, property ownership documents and proof of your income.

We will use this financial information to work out how much you will pay for your care.

It is your choice whether to provide it, but without it we won't be able to offer any help with the cost of your care, and you will have to pay the full cost yourself.

You can find information about how we store and handle your personal information in our privacy notice.

Income

Most income will be used to pay for your care and support, up to the full cost. This includes most welfare benefits and your state retirement pension, together with any private income or occupational pensions. 

You will always keep a minimum amount for your personal day to day expenses (such as toiletries, clothing and hairdressing). This is called the Personal Expenses Allowance and is set by central government.

Savings and investments

The total value of your savings and investments will be considered in the financial assessment.

This includes savings and investments held in your sole name and your share of any savings and investments held jointly with another person.

• If you have less than £14,250
  This will be ignored in the financial assessment and will not affect the amount you have to pay for your care. You will still contribute from your income.
• If you have between £14,250 and £23,250
  You will need to pay £1 per week for every £250 (or part thereof) you have over £14,250. This is on top of anything you pay because of your income.
• If you have more than £23,250
  You will have to pay the full cost of your care and support.

The types of savings you may have that we would need to know about include, but is not restricted to:

• Current and savings accounts in a bank or building society
• Post Office accounts
• Premium Bonds
• Shares
• Trust Funds
• ISA's/PEP's
• Cash

If your savings fall in the future and are approaching the £23,250 limit, please contact our Let's Talk Team to discuss how this will affect what you pay for your care and what you need to do.

The lower and upper savings limits above are set by central government and may change.

Property

Equity in any property that you own can be counted alongside savings in the financial assessment.

If you are moving into a care home permanently and we cannot ignore the value of your former home, it will generally not be included in the financial assessment for the first 12 weeks after you move.

Sometimes the value of your property is ignored in the financial assessment, including when one of the following is true:

• Your spouse or partner still lives in the property
• A child you are responsible for still lives in the property
• A family member who is over 60 still lives in the property
• A family member who is disabled still lives in the property

From the 13th week, the value of your former home will be included in the financial assessment.

If you don't wish to sell the property or need help to pay for care while you wait for it to sell, you can enter a Deferred Payment Agreement with the Council to make sure your care is paid for in the meantime.