Paying for care in residential and nursing homes
A residential care home offers personal care to people who are unable to manage at home despite having support and need much higher levels of security and care. Personal care includes bathing, feeding, dressing, and help with moving about.
A nursing care home has qualified nurses on site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to deliver care as needed.
- Find out more about residential and nursing care homes
If we're helping to fund it, you can choose which care home you prefer within reason. However, we must first agree the home is suitable and it would not cost more than would normally be paid for a home that meets your needs.
Financial assessment
You are free to make your own arrangements if you can afford the long-term cost.
However, it is worth asking us to review your care needs and complete a financial assessment, because it might fund some or all of your care costs.
In the financial assessment, we will take into account the income and assets you own to work out if you need to contribute. We will make sure you are left with a 'Personal Expense Allowance' of £28.25 a week, set by the Government for 2023/24.
Top-ups or third-party agreements
A top-up is in addition to the contribution that you pay.
If you choose a care home that costs more than we would usually expect to pay for a person with your needs, you can still live there if a relative or friend is willing and able to pay, or top-up, the difference.
You will need to be sure that this arrangement is likely to last or you may have to move again later.
The amount of the top-up is agreed when you go into the home but can be reviewed by the home as long as they give notice. Anyone paying this can ask for a review of the arrangement at any time, and we can review the arrangement once a year.
Deferring payment
If you own a property, you can ask us to lend you the money to pay for your fees by using a deferred payment scheme.
Apply
We can give you information to help stay independent. We can assess you for eligible needs or review your current care package.
Last updated 11 April 2023