Paying for non-residential care

Some services are free, including:

• advice about social care services
• an assessment of your care and support needs
• services you get under Section 117 of the Mental Health Act (after discharge from a mental health hospital)
• any service that the NHS must provide
• community equipment and aids, and
• intermediate care after leaving hospital, including reablement for up to 6 weeks, or longer in some cases

Other social care services will probably need to be paid for.

The amount you need to pay, if anything, depends on the type and amount of care and support you need, and what you can afford.

If you are assessed as needing care and support, the Council will look at your income and savings to see if you need to pay toward the cost of these services.

This is called a financial assessment.

How the financial assessment is carried out

After your care and support needs are assessed, you will be asked to provide information about your income, essential spending, savings and investments.

Only your own income will be included in the financial assessment, and not those of a spouse or partner.

However, we do need to consider your share of savings you share with another person.

We will also ask you to provide relevant financial documents and paperwork, such as bank statements and proof of your income.

We will use this financial information to work out how much you will pay for your care and support.

It is your choice whether to provide it, but without it we won't be able to offer any financial help, and you will have to pay the full cost yourself.

You can find information about how we store and handle your personal information in our privacy notice.

Income and spending

Most income can be used to pay for your care and support.

This includes most welfare benefits and your state retirement pension, together with private income or occupational pensions.

If you qualify for extra benefits but choose not to claim them, they will still be included as income in our assessment.

You will not be expected to use the following types of income to pay for your care, and you can keep them in full:

• Earnings from employment or self-employment
• Direct payments from the Council
• War Pension Scheme payments made to veterans except for Constant Attendance Allowance
• Guaranteed income payments for veterans from the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme
• The mobility component of disability living allowance (DLA) and personal independence payments (PIP)
• Pension credit savings credit
• Social fund payments
• Regular charitable or voluntary payments (e.g., from a relative)
• Child benefit and child tax credit
• Child support maintenance payments

The financial assessment will compare the amount of income you get with the amount you need for essential weekly spending.

We will use this assessment to decide whether you need to pay for your care, and if so, how much.

We will ensure that you keep enough income to pay your day-to-day living costs. This is called the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG).

You will also be able to keep the money you need to cover mortgage repayments, rent and council tax.

We will also consider any extra costs you have because of a disability. This is known as disability-related expenditure (DRE). This may include costs for:

• transport to attend a day centre or medical appointment, or to keep up social contacts, if not met by the mobility component of PIP or DLA
• care or personal assistance that isn't provided or arranged by the Council
• gardening or home maintenance you would otherwise do yourself
• extra heating costs
• extra costs for equipment, clothing, bedding, or a special diet, and
• other costs you need to pay for with your disability benefits to ensure your needs are met

Savings and investments

The total value of your savings and investments will be considered in the financial assessment.

This does not include the value of your home but does include the value of any other property that you own.

The lower and upper savings limits below are set by central government and may change.

• If you have less than £14,250
  This will be ignored in the financial assessment and will not affect the amount you have to pay for your care.
• If you have between £14,250 and £23,250
  For every £250 (or part thereof) you have over £14,250, you will be treated as if you had an extra £1 per week of income. For example, if you have £15,000 in savings, you will be treated as having and extra £3 per week of income.
• If you have more than £23,250
  You will have to pay the full cost of your care and support. If your savings increase or fall in the future and are approaching the £23,250 limit, please contact our Financial Assessments Team to discuss how this will affect what you pay for your care.

The types of savings you may have that we would need to know about include, but are not restricted to:

• The value of land or property that you own, other than your home
• Current and savings accounts in a bank or building society
• Post Office accounts
• Premium Bonds
• Shares
• Trust Funds
• ISA's / PEP's
• Cash