Paying to live in a care home
These pages give you information about getting help from adult’s social care (also called social services). They give information on how to pay for care home costs. This will be useful for people who are getting help with their care home costs from the council and for people who are paying for their own care.
What are the first steps?
If you think you need help from social services you can ask for advice or an assessment. Anyone can ask for an assessment and it does not cost anything. An assessment is a discussion between you (and your partner, friend or other representative if you want) and the social worker. This discussion will help both you and the social worker to find out what needs you may have. Even if you are planning on funding the costs of your care yourself, you are still able to get an assessment to help decide what type of help might be best for you. There is a list of organisations who may be able to offer help or advice. You can also look at our Moving into a care home (PDF 246KB) booklet.
Do I have to pay?
Everyone who goes into a care home must pay something toward the cost of their care, unless it is “continuing care” paid for by the NHS. Before you choose a care home, it is important to find out how much it costs and how much of these costs you will have to pay.
If you can afford to pay for all of your care, you can make your own arrangements. This is called self-funding. If you need help from social services to pay for your care, you must wait to go into the home until we have agreed the funding arrangements with you.
We will provide you with information to help you choose a home. We have contracts with most of these homes which means there will be fixed, agreed costs for the council. You can choose a different home as long as it meets your needs and they agree to our fixed costs and contract arrangements.
You can also choose a more expensive home, but someone else (a relative or friend) will need to pay the extra costs. This is called a third party top up.
If you move into a home and can no longer make the payments, you may have to move to a home that still meets your needs, but costs less.
Working out the cost of your care – if it is shared between you and social services
There are rules about how much you will have to pay toward the cost of your care. These rules come from national legislation called the Charges for Residential Accommodation Guide (CRAG).
To work out how much you will have to pay, a finance officer from the council will arrange to meet with you to discuss your finances. This is called a financial assessment. If you choose not to have the financial assessment or if the assessment shows that you have capital (such as cash, bank/building society accounts, premium bonds, national savings certificates, stocks and shares, property) above the nationally set limit, you will be asked to pay the full costs of your care (self-funding).
As of March 2008, the nationally set limit is £22,250. When your total savings and investments and property are less than £22,250 social services will help you with the costs. If you have capital of £22,250 or less, but more than £13,500 this will be taken into account when working out your weekly contribution. This is called tariff income and is calculated as follows: £1.00 for every complete £250.00 or part of £250.00 over £13,500.
At the financial assessment, we will ask you to give us some information to help us work out what you should pay. We will need to know:
- your personal details
- next of kin (spouse, children)
- bank statements
- information about investments
- information about your benefits
- information about your pension
Current charges for residential accommodation
Respite contributions from 7 April 2008
18 – 24 year olds £26.80 per week
25 – 29 year olds £39.35 per week
60+ year olds £102.90 per week
Personal allowance from 7 April 2008
The minimum statutory personal allowance will be increased to £21.15 per week. Service users aged 65 or over who receive the savings element of pension credit or are above the limit for receiving savings credit will be entitled to an additional maximum allowance of £5.45 per week.
Income
All income is fully taken into account, such as DWP benefits including attendance allowance, DLA care component, private/occupational pensions, and all other income. For war widows pensions, £10.00 per week will be disregarded and a disregard of 50% of an occupational pension may be allowed for couples where the spouse or civil partner remains at home.
Third party top ups
If the home you have chosen costs more than social services agreed costs, someone else (a relative or friend) will need to pay the additional costs. This is called a third party top up. This is in addition to the costs that you will be asked to pay. You are not allowed to pay the top up yourself.
The amount of the top up is agreed at the time that you go into the home. This amount can be reviewed by the home, but they must tell you in advance that they are doing this. The person who is asked to pay the top up will have to sign an agreement form and will be sent an invoice for the amount every four weeks.
It is important that the person who agrees to pay the top up is able to continue making the payments for as long as you are in the home. If the payments are not made, social services may have to ask you to move to a home that still meets your needs, but costs less.
Working out the cost of your care – if you are paying the full costs yourself (self-funding)
If you need to go into a care home and your total savings, investments and property are worth more than £22,250 you will probably be expected to pay the full care home costs yourself. However, this is not always the case, so check with social services before you make any of your own arrangements with a care home.
It is also important to remember that you can ask social services to help with your care home costs when you have less than £22,250 in savings. As your savings get close to this level, contact your social work office.
If you are receiving nursing care, you may be able to get help with part of your care costs through NHS Walsall. You may also be able to get your care costs paid by NHS Walsall if you meet their ‘continuing care’ criteria. Contact NHS Walsall for more information.
You may also be entitled to social security benefits, pension credit and income support. For more information on these benefits contact Walsall Council’s welfare benefits service. The Age Concern website can also provide information and advice.
Giving gifts
Whether the council is helping with your care home costs or you are paying the full costs yourself, there is guidance on how much you can give away (either in cash or possessions) once you move into a care home. We will discuss this with you when we meet to do your financial assessment.
If you own property
If you own your own home and you want to sell it to help pay for your care home costs, you can arrange something called a deferred payment with the council. If you own your own property or land, the value of the property will not be considered for the first 12 weeks of a permanent stay in a care home but during this period you will be asked to make some contribution to the care home costs. This contribution will be based on your income and capital.
Deferred payment scheme – You may enter into a deferred payment agreement once the 12 week period above has been completed. This means that if you have a home to sell that is included in a financial assessment, but you do not want to sell it immediately, you can defer all or part of your contributions. The council will fund your care fees free of interest, then recover the money when your property is sold. The value of your home will not be included in your financial assessment, but any other income, savings or assets you have will still be included. For more information on this, contact our specialist debtors team on 01922 652765.
You do not always have to sell your home to pay for your care home costs. There are independent organisations who can advise you on the other options available.
Contact us
For queries about an assessment, review or your care services contact your social work office.
For queries about costs contact the council's specialist debtors team on 01922 652765.