Paying your care home fees
If you need to go into a residential care or nursing home, you will have to pay part of your fees. The local Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust works out how much you need to pay.
Getting your needs assessed
You will have a needs assessment before a financial assessment.
The Trust will tell you how much they usually pay for a residential care or nursing home that will meet your needs.
They will arrange a suitable residential care or nursing home for you.
If you live in a nursing home and have assessed nursing needs, the Trust will pay £100 a week towards the cost of the nursing.
You can choose a home that charges the same price. This is important if you are paying your own fees but think you might need to ask your Trust for help later.
Your financial assessment
Before you move into a home, the Trust assesses your finances. They look at your income and capital to calculate how much you must pay.
Examples of income include:
- interest on your savings
- private or State Pension or both
- Pension Credit, Attendance Allowance or the care component of Disability Living Allowance
Your capital might include:
- savings
- investments
- any property you own (like your own home or a holiday home)
Before your financial assessment, make sure you get all the benefits you're entitled to. Your contribution to your home fees will be based on all income, including benefits.
When you pay towards your home fees, you must have £34.10 remaining a week to spend as you want. This is known as the Personal Expenses Allowance (PEA). If you get the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance, you will keep getting it.
You'll also get up to £5.75 a week savings credit if you are over 65.
Temporary stays in a care home
If you go into a residential care or nursing home temporarily, you will have to contribute to the cost.
You may be able to use direct payments to secure occasional short periods (usually not more than four weeks) in residential accommodation if your Trust agrees.
You may not receive a full financial assessment for the first eight weeks, in which case the Health and Social Care Trust will decide a fair contribution for you to make.
For the next four weeks, a financial assessment will be made to decide what you should pay.
As your stay is temporary, your home won't be counted as capital.
Capital and the value of your home
If you live in Northern Ireland and have over £23,250 in capital (savings, investments and property including the value of your home), the HSC Trust assesses you as able to pay for all your care.
They assess your capital according to information shown in table below:
| Capital you have | Your contribution to your care home fees |
|---|---|
| Over £23,250 | You're assessed as able to pay for all your care |
| Between £14,250 and £23,250 | Your capital will be calculated as giving you an income of £1 per week for every £250 of your savings |
| £14,250 or under | Your capital will be ignored in calculating how much you have to pay towards your care |
If you own your home, it counts as capital 12 weeks after you move permanently into a care home.
However, your home won't be counted as capital if any of the following people still live there:
- your husband, wife, partner or civil partner
- a close relative who is 60 or over, or disabled
- a close relative under the age of 16 who you're legally liable to support
- your ex-husband, ex-wife, ex-civil partner or ex-partner if they are a lone parent
Your Trust may choose not to count your home as capital in other circumstances, for example, if your carer lives there.
Keeping your home and assets
Setting up a family trust
Setting up a family trust is one way of transferring the ownership of your home or other assets to someone else while you're still alive.
You should get advice from a solicitor on this because the law surrounding trusts is complicated.
Giving money or property to other people
You may choose to give money or assets to your children or grandchildren.
There is no monetary limit on gifts to your children, grandchildren or other relatives, but they may have to pay tax on any interest or income they receive.
If you give an asset to someone within the seven years before you die, the person who receives the gift may have to pay Inheritance Tax on it.
It is against the law to transfer ownership of an asset to another person specifically to avoid paying your care home fees.
The Trust may consider that you have deprived yourself of a capital asset to reduce your accommodation charge.
If this is found to be the case, the Trust may treat you as still possessing the asset and can recover the cost of your care from you or the person(s) who received the gift.
Inheritance planning
Before you move into a care home permanently, you should plan your inheritance and make a will if you haven't already done so.
Renting out your home
One alternative to selling your home may be to rent it out to tenants and use the rent to pay your care home fees.
Selling your home
If you have to pay the full cost of your care home fees, you may decide to sell your home or other assets.
Moving into a more expensive care home
If the Trust suggests a place that meets your needs, but you want to move into a more expensive home, you can ask a relative or friend to pay the extra. This is called a 'third party contribution'.
You will not be able to pay this yourself as you will have been financially assessed to pay what you can afford.
If the Trust cannot suggest a place that meets your needs in your area, they must pay more than their usual amount towards your care.