Paying for residential care
Residential and nursing care is expensive. Everyone living in a care home has to pay something towards the cost.
How much you pay depends on how much money you have:
- If you have more than £23,250 in savings and assets (capital) then you will pay for the full cost of your care.
- If you have less than £23,250 in savings and assets (capital) then we will carry out a financial assessment. This will tell us how much you can afford to pay.
If you own your home
If you are moving to a care home permanently, we will include the value of your property when we assess how much you will need to pay. We may offer you a loan to pay for care home costs.
The value of your main or only home is not included if:
- you are receiving short-term or respite care
- your spouse or partner lives there
There may be other reasons we will not include the value of your home. We will discuss this with you during your assessment.
Find out if you need to pay
You can quickly check if you'll need to pay towards your care using our financial eligibility checker:
How we assess you
- We will talk to you to find out what you need help with and whether you are eligible for our support. This is called a Care Act needs assessment. You can start your assessment online.
- Once we know what support you need, we will work out the estimated cost of your care and inform you of this.
- We will do a financial assessment. This means we add up your income such as pensions and benefits, and any savings. We will tell you the maximum weekly amount you'll need to pay towards your care.
