Funding for home care
There are a few different options to consider when choosing a quality home care provider, but help is out there and funding for home care is available. If you are unable to self-fund your care, you may be qualified for assistance from your local authority, the NHS or other means.
Local authority funding for care: how it works
There is local authority funding for care in your own home available, but how much they may offer you is up to the local council themselves. Firstly, you’ll need to determine who your local council is, and let them know of your situation. The council will identify the extent of the care required, to enable you or your loved one to live as independently as possible. This is called a ‘needs assessment’ and is free to anyone who would like one.
The Care Act 2014 is a piece of legislation that governs local council’s duties in relation to assessing your care needs and your eligibility for publicly-funded care and support.
This begins with an assessment of your needs and decision about where your needs are eligible, including a financial assessment where necessary. This will determine whether you need to pay for your own care.
Once the assessment process has completed, a decision can be made whether your entitled to care and support arranged by the council.
If the council find that you require care either in your home or in a residential setting, they will then carry out a ‘means test’. This is a financial assessment of your ability to fund the care.
The table above shows how a local authority decides on who funds the care. If you have assets and savings above £23,250, then you will need to fund the cost of the care. If your assets and savings are between £14.250 and £23,250, then the council will fund a part of your care cost and you will cover the rest of it. If you have assets and savings below £14,250, then the council will pay for all of the costs or most of it.
The means test is also free, so there is no cost involved in finding out if you’ll be paying for home care, or if your council will.
The eligibility threshold for adults with care and support needs is based on identifying how a person’s needs affect their ability to achieve relevant outcomes, and how this impacts their wellbeing. The specified outcomes include; managing toilet needs, personal hygiene, nutrition, moving around the home safely and dressing appropriately.
Individuals can contact the local authority social services department to carry out a needs assessment. The local authority then determines whether an individual has needs that meet the national eligibility criteria.
A personal budget is the amount of money your local council will pay towards any social care and support you need, such as home care.
The local council will decide the amount of money an individual will receive in their personal budget depending on the care and support they need, how much it will cost and how much they can afford themselves.