Paying for a care home in England and Scotland

In England, the council helps pay for a care home only when the person’s savings and assets are at or below £23,250 (2026-27), and they still pay what they can from income and from savings over £14,250. In Scotland the limits are £36,750 and £22,750 from 6 April 2026, and anyone assessed as needing personal care gets £260.30 a week towards it, whatever their savings.

These figures change every April. The England figures here are for 2026-27, from the Department of Health and Social Care. The Scotland figures are for 2026-27, from the Scottish Government’s charging circular. Wales and Northern Ireland have different rules and are not covered here.

Step one: the needs assessment

Money comes second. The council first assesses what care the person needs, and only if a care home is the right way to meet those needs does it look at their finances. In England the council must assess anyone who appears to need care and support, whatever their money. In Scotland, ask the local health and social care partnership.

England: the means test

The financial assessment adds up the person’s capital (savings, investments and property, unless a rule says to ignore it) and their income. The council has no power to assess a couple’s joint resources, so each person is assessed on their own money, and jointly owned savings are usually treated as split equally.

The government’s own example: someone with £4,000 above the lower limit is treated as having £16 a week of tariff income.

Most income counts, including State Pension and most other pensions and benefits. The person keeps a personal expenses allowance of £31.80 a week (2026-27) for clothes, toiletries and other personal spending.

England: what happens to the house

A home the person owns counts as capital once they move into a care home permanently, unless one of these rules applies.

• Someone still lives there. The value must be ignored while it is the home of the person’s partner (unless estranged), or of a relative who is aged 60 or over, is incapacitated, or is the resident’s child under 18. That person must have lived there since before the move.
• The stay is temporary. The home is ignored if the person intends to return to it and it is still available to them.
• The first 12 weeks. When someone first moves into a care home permanently and their other capital is below £23,250, the council must ignore the home for 12 weeks. This gives time to decide what to do without a forced sale.

Deferred payment agreements

A deferred payment agreement lets the person pay care home fees from the value of their home later, usually when it is sold or from their estate. In England the council must offer one to someone who needs a care home place, has £23,250 or less in other capital, and whose home is not being ignored under the rules above, as long as the council can secure the debt with a legal charge on the property.

It is a loan. Councils can charge interest, capped at a national maximum that changes every 6 months on 1 January and 1 July, and can charge for administration. After a death, the amount owed falls due 90 days later.

England: top-ups

When the council pays, it sets a personal budget for the care home place. It must make sure at least one suitable home is available within that budget, and it must not ask for a top-up if it could not find one.

If you choose a dearer home, someone pays the difference. That is usually a relative or friend (a “third party”), who signs a written agreement with the council and must be able to keep paying for as long as the stay is likely to last. The resident can only top up from their own money during the 12-week property disregard, under a deferred payment agreement, or in mental health aftercare under section 117.

If a top-up stops, the council can reassess and may move the person to a home within the budget. Ask the council how price rises will be shared before you sign.

England: help from the NHS

NHS continuing healthcare

NHS continuing healthcare is a package of care arranged and funded solely by the NHS, including care home fees, for adults whose needs are mainly health needs. Eligibility depends on assessed needs, and a particular diagnosis does not qualify anyone on its own.

It usually starts with a checklist completed by a nurse, doctor, other health professional or social worker. If that suggests eligibility, a team of at least 2 professionals from different health professions carries out a full assessment and records it on the decision support tool. Someone whose health is getting worse quickly near the end of life can be fast-tracked, usually within 48 hours.

The decision is made by your local ICB, the NHS body that plans health services for your area, and you should get it in writing with the reasons. The NHS names Beacon as a source of free, independent advice on continuing healthcare.

NHS-funded nursing care

If someone lives in a nursing home, does not qualify for continuing healthcare, and has been assessed as needing care from a registered nurse, the NHS pays a flat rate straight to the home towards that nursing. From 1 April 2026 (2026-27) the standard rate is £267.68 a week.

A higher rate of £368.24 a week applies only to people who moved into a care home before 1 October 2007 and were on the old high band. Ask the home to show the NHS payment on its fee breakdown, so you can see it has been taken off what you pay.

Attendance Allowance

GOV.UK says you cannot usually get Attendance Allowance if you live in a care home and the council pays for your care. You can still claim it if you pay all your care home costs yourself.

Scotland: free personal and nursing care

In Scotland, every adult the council assesses as needing personal care gets a payment towards it, whether or not they pay the rest of the fee themselves. Those who also need nursing care in a care home get a second payment. The council pays both straight to the home.

These payments cover part of a care home fee. Accommodation and living costs are paid by the resident, or by the council after a means test.

Scotland: the means test

Residents the council helps keep a personal expenses allowance of £37.65 a week from 6 April 2026.

Scotland: the house, deferred payments and top-ups

The home is ignored while it is lived in by the resident’s partner (unless estranged or divorced), or by a relative who is aged 60 or over, is incapacitated, or is a child under 16 whom the resident supports.

Scotland also has a 12-week property disregard. It applies from the start of a permanent stay once the council has confirmed the person needs a permanent care home place and takes over the arrangements.

A Scottish council can agree to defer part of the fees against the home if the person has £22,750 or less in other capital, the home is not being ignored, and the council can take a standard security over it. Councils should publish how they decide between applicants.

A relative or friend can top up the fee for a dearer home from any money of their own. The resident can top up only during the 12-week disregard, under a deferred payment agreement, or from the extra left over because of the free personal or nursing care payments.

NHS continuing healthcare in the English sense does not exist in Scotland. From 1 June 2015 it was replaced by Hospital Based Complex Clinical Care, whose test is whether a person’s needs can be properly met anywhere other than a hospital. It does not pay care home fees.

Where to get advice about your own case

The council (in Scotland, the health and social care partnership) does the assessments and can explain its own charging policy. For free, independent advice, try Age UK, Independent Age or Citizens Advice in England, and Age Scotland or Citizens Advice Scotland in Scotland. In England, before anyone signs a top-up agreement, the statutory guidance tells councils to consider offering independent financial information and advice, so ask for it.

What care home fees cover and why they vary →