How much you will pay for care and support

There is a process to go through to work out how much you will pay for your care.

1. Complete a self assessment to understand what support you need.
2. If you need support from us, we'll complete a care needs assessment and calculate your personal budget to find the cost of the services you need.
3. We'll then carry out a financial assessment looking at your capital and income to calculate how much you will pay towards your care and support services.

Estimate how much you may need to pay

Most people will need to pay something towards their care and support. Our estimator gives you an idea of how much you may need to pay.

Estimate how much you may need to pay

Paying for residential care

If you are going into residential care, please read our paying for residential care information.

Total cost of your care

If we are able to support you, we will then work out your personal budget. Your personal budget is the total amount that we think it will cost to buy the care services you need.

To start with this figure will be an estimate and is called your estimated personal budget. We will confirm the final amount after we agree your care and support plan.

If you are living in an extra-care housing scheme, your personal budget will always include an amount for the 24 hour a day emergency cover they provide. This will be added to the cost of any regular care and support you receive. If you are in a Shared Lives service, we will work out the cost of the care and support you receive in a specific way. Your social care contact will be able to explain this to you.

Financial assessment

Once we have agreed the total cost of your care and support, we will work out how much you will be required to contribute towards the cost of all chargeable services you receive. We do this by carrying out a financial assessment which is means tested. The financial assessment may take place in your home or over the telephone.

A financial assessment looks at your capital and your weekly income to see how much you can pay towards the cost of your care.

• Your capital includes most savings and investments including the value of any second properties or land but not the home that you live in.
• Your income includes most pensions and benefits, and any other money you may have coming in, and an assumed level of income from any savings and investments.

If we already hold your financial information from a previous financial assessment or if your income and capital has already been verified by the Department for Work and Pensions, we can complete the financial assessment without contacting you or your representative.

We will tell you about the benefits you can claim. When we work out your contribution, we will assume you have the income from these benefits.

After we have completed your financial assessment, we will write to you to give you information about what you need to pay. All charges are reviewed on an annual basis.

If your income, benefits, pension, savings or investments change you will need to tell us as soon as possible. If you do not tell us about changes in your financial circumstances, which meant we were undercharging you, we may backdate to the date the charge increase would have applied.

Money or capital you have given away

If you give away money or capital assets to avoid paying for your care this is seen as ‘Deprivation of Assets’ and will mean the assessment of how much you can afford to pay will still include the value of the assets that have been given away.

We will discuss the circumstances, reasons given and timing around the giving away of the money or capital assets with you. We will decide if you could have reasonably foreseen your need for care and support at the time you gave away the money or capital assets and was it done for the sole or main purpose to reduce the amount you are charged towards your care or to be eligible for support from us sooner than expected.

In some circumstances, we can legally ask the person who was given the money or capital assets to pay some or all of your care costs.

If you have over £23,250 in capital

If you have over £23,250 in capital (which includes savings and investments) or you choose not to disclose your financial information you will not qualify for any financial assistance and then you will need to pay the full cost of your care directly to your chosen provider.

When we look at your capital we do not include the value of the home that you live in.

You can ask us to arrange the delivery of your care and contract with the provider on your behalf. We will charge an annual arrangement fee of £127.59 to pay for the administration associated with accessing care through us. This will be paid in weekly instalments (£2.44 per week) and added to the cost of any regular care and support you receive.

If you have less than £23,250 in capital

Your income

We will look at your weekly income to see how much you can afford to contribute to the cost of your care and support. Your weekly income includes most pensions and benefits.

If you have capital between £14,250 and £23,250, we will add your weekly income to an assumed income of £1 per week for every £250 (or part of £250) over £14,250. This is called a tariff income.

Tariff income example

You have £17,250 in savings 
£17,250 savings minus the lower capital limit of £14,250 = £3,000
£3,000 ÷ £250 = £12.

This means a tariff income of £12 a week based on your savings.