Long term careCare funding and assessments

Social care needs (or care) assessments

Get a care assessment from your council

Councils (or trusts in Northern Ireland) must assess the needs of anyone who is disabled or appears to be in need of a community care service that is provided by the council, such as equipment, home care or a home meal delivery. ‘Needs’ include social and emotional needs.

The care assessment is usually carried out in your home by a social worker or other professional from your council, and a relative or friend can be present

The council compares your needs against the council’s local eligibility criteria. If you have an assessed need, your council has a duty to provide or arrange services to meet it, if it meets the eligibility criteria that have been set for providing a service.

These needs can be met in different ways, perhaps by you receiving care at home or in a care home, or a Direct Payment (cash to arrange your own care).

If your need is not critical, the council may not be able to provide regular assistance, but may still provide help with equipment and adaptations to your home.

Once the council has agreed to arrange or provide necessary services, it will assess your finances to see if you need to contribute towards the cost of these services, unless your needs are such that you qualify for free NHS provision.

If you're looked after in a care home, you'll have to pay the fees and care costs if your capital/savings exceed limits set for each country. These are: England £23,000; Wales £22,000; Scotland £23,000 and Northern Ireland £23,000.

For more on choosing and paying for a care home, see our guide to choosing care homes.

Organising your care

Once a council has agreed you need support and are eligible, they will give you a written care plan detailing the type of care needed. The required services, such as a day centre or alarm service, may be provided or arranged by the council.

Around half the respondents in our survey said they would want to organise their own care in the future. You could do this by getting a ‘Direct Payment’ from the local council, which must offer money to eligible people to arrange and pay for their own support services such as home care, instead of receiving them directly from the council.

Direct payments and personal or independent budgets

Direct Payments (DPs) are not generally intended to be used to employ family living with you, though there are exceptions to this. (see the First Stop care advice website for details). There is no restriction on using DPs for a relative who does not live with you.

If you want even more flexibility and convenience, some councils may offer ‘personal’ or ‘individual’ budgets (not in Northern Ireland). These bring together funding allocated to you from a variety of sources such as equipment or housing grants, so you can choose what your money is spent on.

Alternatively, you could organise services privately yourself – for example, by employing a home carer through a ‘domiciliary’ or home care agency. The council should have a list, and your national social-care regulator will inspect them and produce a publicly available report.

Ask if alternative schemes – such as Homeshare schemes, where a tenant lives in your home in return for giving you agreed support – are available locally.

Benefits

Get a regular benefit check done to establish whether you’re getting your full benefit entitlement, such as pension credit and attendance allowance. You can do this by going to an independent advice centre or advisory service such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, or using an online benefit calculator such as Entitledto.

Tax reductions

Check with your local council to see whether you’re entitled to a council tax reduction (except for Northern Ireland where there is rate relief, not council tax). For instance, people with dementia and some carers are not counted as householders.

Attendance Allowance

If a person over 65 is having any difficulties with personal care tasks due to illness or physical or mental disability, encourage them to put in a claim for Attendance Allowance, worth either £47.10 or £70.35 per week. This is a non-means tested, non-taxable benefit which can entitle them to other benefits too.

Disabled Living Allowance

Disabled Living Allowance is for people under 65, and can be used to pay for anything – unlike Direct Payments, which pay for care. It can be helpful to get advice on completing the forms from an advisory service.

Transport benefits

If you can’t use public transport, explore any local concessionary door-to-door transport schemes, such as Taxicard and token schemes that entitle you to a certain number of concessionary journeys each year.