Care Funding

We understand that care funding can be difficult to understand and process, with a lot of people unsure about what funding they are entitled to and how they would go about accessing the funding they’re eligible for.

The first step to your care funding is understanding whether you’re entitled to healthcare funding or social care funding and understanding the difference between the two types of care.

To make it easier to understand the difference, we have provided the official definitions as supplied from the National Framework for the NHS Healthcare and NHS-funded Nursing Care:

Healthcare: “Whilst there is not a legal definition of a healthcare need (in the context of NHS continuing healthcare), in general terms, it can be said that such a need is one related to the treatment, control or prevention of a disease, illness, injury or disability, and the care or aftercare of a person with these needs (whether or not the tasks involved have to be carried out by a health professional).”

Social care – “In general terms (not a legal definition) it can be said that a social care need is one that is focused on providing assistance with activities of daily living, maintaining independence, social interaction, enabling the individual to play a fuller part in society, protecting them in vulnerable situations, helping them to manage complex relationships and (in some circumstances) accessing a care home or other supported accommodation.”

For those living in England, the current amount after which you will have to pay for your care without assistance is £23,250. If your assets (savings, investments etc) exceed this number, you will be seen as able to pay for your own care. When using a care service such as in home care, the value of your property will not be taken into account when calculating your assets.

If you are unsure about care funding, you can ask your local council for a financial assessment to see if you qualify for additional help towards your health care costs.

Financial assessments look at your financial means and will calculate whether:

The council will pay for all of your care
The council will pay for a portion of your care whilst you pay for the remainder
You are responsible for paying for all of your care

Your local authority will review how much of your care you are able to pay for yourself based on your income and assets. To do this, a financial assessment officer will come to your home and review details such as:

Your income
Your pension
Your savings
Your current benefits
Your owned property (if additional to the home you will receive care in)
Any stocks and shares you own

Following this assessment, you will be informed whether you are entitled to all or some of your care funded by the local authority, or whether you will have to pay for the entirety of your care.

If you are entitled to care funding, this will be sent to you as a direct payment as part of your personal budget. Your financial situation will be reassessed on an annual basis to check whether any circumstances have changed.

Care Funding

All funding options

Funding for NHS Continuing Care

Personal Health Budgets

Social Services Funding

Carers Allowance

Attendance Allowance

Care Funding