Local Authority Care Funding

What to expect from the financial assessment

The first step is to ask for a free care assessment from the social services department of your local authority.

What to expect from the financial assessment

Once your local authority has agreed your care needs, they’ll look into your finances to work out how much you should pay towards the cost. It could mean you’ll need to pay for none, part or all of your care, depending on your income, savings and property you own.

Only the finances of the person who needs care should be considered in the financial assessment.

Your savings, assets, and investments

One of the first questions you’ll be asked is whether you have more than £23,250 in capital assets. If the answer is yes, you’ll be considered a ‘self-funder’ and you’ll need to cover the full cost of your care.

The financial assessment will look at your income and assets, including:

Savings, including ISAs
Stocks and shares
Second homes or buy-to-let properties
Investments with a ‘cash-in’ value
Your property if you’re moving to a care home.

If you have savings below £23,250 Then you may be able to get help to pay for care from your local authority.

You can read more about your options on our ways to pay for care page.

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Capital limits for local authority support in UK countries

‘Capital’ refers to the value of any savings or investments you have.

	England	Wales	Scotland	Northern Ireland
Home Care Capital Limit	£23,250	£24,000	N/A (Free when assessed as needing care by your local authority)	N/A (Free when assessed as needing care by your local authority)
Care Home Capital Limit	£23,250	£50,000	£32,750	£23,250

Assessing your income
Attendance Allowance and your financial assessment
Your property and care funding
Assessing your savings & investments

Your income from pensions, state benefits and some other sources will be considered in a financial assessment, but there are some types of income that won’t be counted. It’s called ‘disregarded income’ and includes:
- Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment mobility components
- War Widows’ and Widowers’ special payments
- Charitable and voluntary payments
- Personal injury trust payments
- Awards of certain damages
- Any earnings from employment
The local authority should check you’re claiming all the financial support and benefits you’re entitled to at the same time when they do your financial assessment.
For care at home

After working out what income should be counted in your assessment, your assessor needs to make sure you’re left with at least the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) after paying for care.

For a single person, the standard figure is £228.70 (£174.60 if you’re one half of a couple). This is how much should be left over from your income after your rent, mortgage payments, ground rent and Council Tax payments are all taken care of.

In Wales, the MIG is calculated differently and is around £320 for a single person. In Scotland and Northern Ireland personal care at home is free if your local authority has agreed you need it, so there is no MIG.

For care in a care home

As part of your financial assessment, your local authority must ensure that after you have contributed towards your care home costs from your income that you are left with a Personal Expenses Allowance (PEA).

Your allowance is a minimum of £30.15 per week and can be used however you wish. Many people choose to spend it on day trips, magazines, cosmetics or snacks. If your allowance is not enough to cover these costs, then you can ask your local authority to consider increasing it.

In Scotland PEA is £34.50 per week and in Northern Ireland, it’s £28.01. In Wales, PEA is known as the Minimum Income Amount and is £39.50 per week.

Couples and care funding

Only the finances of the person who needs care can be taken into account in the financial assessment. Your partner’s finances shouldn’t be considered. The guidance given to local authorities says that they have:

“no power to assess couples or civil partners according to their joint resources. Each person must therefore be treated individually.”

If you have joint savings, the value will be divided equally between you. If one of you owns more than the other, you can show evidence of this to the local authority for the financial assessment.

Read more in our section on rules for partners and spouses.
Depending on whether you need care at home or in a care home, you may be able to claim Attendance Allowance as well as financial support from your local authority. This is a non-means tested benefit for people aged 65 and over who have care and support needs.

Care at home

If you get Attendance Allowance, the daily living or care component of Personal Independence Payments (PIP) or Disability Living Allowance (DLA), these can be considered in your financial assessment.

The assessor must take into account any costs you have to pay because of disability and disregard these from your assessment – this is called ‘Disability Related Expenditure’. Some councils disregard a flat rate, but if you feel this isn’t enough to cover your costs, you can challenge it.

Find out how to apply for benefits

Care in a care home

If you’re receiving funding from the local authority and living in a care home, you won’t be able to claim Attendance Allowance as well. But if you’re repaying your local authority’s contributions, through a Deferred Payments Agreement for example, then you can carry on getting Attendance Allowance.
Gardening

Extra heating costs

A special diet

Community alarms (telecare services)

Transport costs (for medical appointments and social contacts)

Cleaning

Buying and maintaining disability equipment

This is a non-exhaustive list and other costs may also be accepted.
Care at home

If you own the home you’re living in, its value won’t be counted in your financial assessment. But if you’d prefer a more expensive package of care than your local authority is willing to pay for. There maybe other funding methods available, use our Care Costs Calculator to find out what options might be right for you.

Care in a care home

If you have less than £23,250 in savings but you own a property, then its value may be used to pay for your care, unless the local authority decides not to include it in the financial assessment. This may happen when it's occupied by a partner or certain family members.
Care homes and the treatment of your property
The value of your home will be disregarded if it’s still being lived in by a:
- spouse, civil partner or unmarried partner
- family member over the age of 60
- family member who is deemed ‘incapacitated’ or living with a disability
- lone parent who is your estranged or divorced partner
- child of yours, under the age of 18
If you move into care but someone who cared for you still lives in your home, the local authority can choose to disregard your property for as long as the carer lives there. Local authorities can’t have a blanket policy for these situations and should consider the effect that caring responsibilities have had on the carer’s employment opportunities and housing arrangements.
The 12-week property disregard

If you move into a care home but none of the usual reasons to disregard your property apply, the local authority will expect you to contribute towards the cost of your care from your income. But they won’t use the value of your property for 12 weeks from the date you first move into a care home as a permanent resident.

If you jointly own your property

If the financial assessment includes a property you own with somebody else, they’ll only consider your share. If nobody lives there, it’s likely they’ll value your share close to its market value. However, if one of the owners still lives in the property, the local authority will apply the ‘trust principle’ when they value your share. This means if you brought the property as a home and it’s still used as one by the other owner, each owner's individual share is likely to be worth little or nothing when assessed for care costs.

Deferred Payment Agreement

If you have less than £23,250 in savings not counting the value of your home, you should be offered a Deferred Payment Agreement by your local authority after 12 weeks of living in a care home.

This means you don’t have to sell your home. Instead, the local authority will put a legal charge against your house so they can get back what they’ve paid towards your care. They'll charge interest on this amount, although it is typically minimal.
Any properties you own but don’t live in, savings, stocks or shares will be counted in the assessment. You’ll be treated as having a 50% share in anything you jointly own, such as a joint bank account.

What capital is disregarded from a financial assessment?
- Some types of investment bond with life assurance elements attached
- Certain personal injury payments
- Money held for you in some types of trust
For savings below £23,250

If you have less than £23,250 in capital or savings but more than £14,250 then you will be assumed to have an income equal to £1 for every £250 you have between these two amounts. For example, if you had savings of £16,050, there are seven full amounts of £250 and another partial amount towards your next £250. This means you would be assumed you have a ‘tariff income’ of £8 per week. The closer you get to £14,250 the lower this amount becomes.

In Wales, the capital limit for local authority support is £24,000 for care at home and £50,000 for care in a care home. There are no lower limits, so tariff income is not considered.

In Northern Ireland personal care at home is free when assessed and arranged by your local authority. Care in a care home is subject to the same capital limits and tariff income as England.

In Scotland the upper capital limit for local authority support in a care home is £32,750, the lower limit is £20,250. Care at home is typically provided free of charge when arranged through your local authority.

Care Concierge

If you would like some expert advice on finding a new care provider, resolving a dispute or exploring funding options then you might benefit from talking with our Care Concierge team.

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Understanding your options

While they’re the most well known, care homes aren’t your only option. Find out about other potential options, such as home adaptations.

Home care

Finding care

Whether you need some help at home or want to find out more about Care Homes in your area, we have information on where to search and what questions to ask.

Finding the right care

Care Costs Calculator

If you want to find out how your care might be paid for, use our Care Costs Calculator.

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Local authority care funding

If you live in England and have less than £23,250 in savings and assets, you could get some financial support from your local authority to pay for any care they’ve agreed you need, at home or in a care home.

What to expect from the financial assessment

What to expect from the financial assessment

Care Costs Calculator

Capital limits for local authority support in UK countries

For care at home

For care in a care home

Couples and care funding

Care at home

Care in a care home

Care at home

Care in a care home

Care homes and the treatment of your property

The 12-week property disregard

If you jointly own your property

Deferred Payment Agreement

Care Concierge

Need help?

Understanding your options

Finding care

Care Costs Calculator