Factsheet: Financial assessments if you have been fully funding your care

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Summary

April 2026

This factsheet explains what to do if you pay the full cost of your care and you want to apply for help.

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Introduction

You can get help to pay for care if:

you have £23,250 or less
you are eligible for care and support

What is capital?

‘Capital’ is the value of your money, savings, investments, assets and property.

When to contact us

If you think your capital is going to drop below £23,250, contact us to let us know, ideally six months before.

Our capital depletion checker will give you an idea of when to ask us for financial help.

What happens when you contact us

We will do two assessments with you:

A Care Act needs assessment to see what support you need.
A financial assessment to work out what you will pay towards your care.

You’ll need to keep paying the full cost of your care until:

we confirm that you are eligible for support
the date our financial support starts

How much we pay

The amount the Council pays for care may be lower than the amount you already pay. Ask your care provider if they will accept our ‘usual rates’. If they won’t, please let us know as soon as possible.

If your care costs more than the amount we pay, you may have to make an extra payment to cover the rest. If you are in a care home, this extra payment is called a ‘top-up’. It is usually paid by a family member, friend or a charity.

Your financial assessment

As part of the financial assessment process, you will need to provide current information about your:

savings, investments and assets (capital)
income
care costs
any Funded Nursing Care contributions (FNC)
property you currently own or have sold (in the UK and abroad) before or during the time you have been paying for your care

We’ll ask you for the last three months’ bank statements for savings, current and joint accounts.

Giving away money or assets

If you have given money, property or assets away, we will need to know:

what you have given
the value or amount of money
the date
who you gave it to and why

If we think you did this to reduce or avoid care and support charges, this is called ‘deprivation of capital’. We may still count the amount you gave away in the financial assessment.

Reducing income

If you reduce your income to avoid care and support charges, this is called ‘deprivation of income’. We may include the amount of income in the financial assessment.

Allowances

The government sets minimum amounts of money we must make sure you have:

Personal expenses allowance (PEA) for care in a care home. This is a weekly amount of money you keep for personal items.
Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) for care received outside a care home.
Savings Credit Disregard (SCD) allowance, if applicable.

We will also take your housing costs into account, like mortgage, rent and Council Tax.

You can find more information about financial assessments in our factsheets:

Capital will go down to £23,250 this financial year

The financial year starts in April, when the government reviews pensions and benefits.

If you have more than £23,250 but we expect it to reduce to £23,250 during this financial year, we will work out:

how much you will need to pay towards your care
the date any financial help will start

The weekly amount you will pay is called your ‘contribution’.

Capital will go down to £23,250 in a future financial year

If we expect your capital to go down to £23,250 after next April, you will continue paying the full cost of your care for this financial year.

We will tell you when we think your capital will drop below £23,250. You should only use this as a guide. Your income, care fees and expenses may change and you could get to £23,250 quicker than we expect.

In April of the year your capital will drop to £23,250, we will:

ask you to provide the last three months’ bank statements
do your financial assessment using your latest income and care fees

We will work out how much you will need to pay towards your care each week, and what we will pay.

If your weekly contribution is higher than your care costs

If we work out your weekly contribution towards your care but it is higher than the cost of your care:

you will pay the full cost of your care and support
you will not get financial help with the cost

Capital drops to £23,250 sooner than expected

If your capital goes down to £23,250 earlier than we expected, you should contact us. We will want to know:

if you have given any money or assets to other people
if you have had any large one-off expenses since your last financial assessment

You may need to provide extra bank statements and other documents to show why your capital has gone down.

If you are eligible for financial support

We will write to you to confirm the date you are eligible for financial help. The letter will also explain how we worked out your contribution.

If you have already had a Care Act needs assessment, we will contact you about your ongoing support. If not, we will arrange a needs assessment for you.