Paying for care guides

In short: in England, if your savings and other capital are above £23,250 you will usually pay the full cost of your care until they fall to that level. Below £14,250 the council ignores your savings, and in between you pay a contribution. Your home is only counted if you move into a care home, and not for the first 12 weeks. NHS Continuing Healthcare and Attendance Allowance are not means-tested, so check those whatever your savings.

This guide walks through how care is paid for in the UK, step by step, with links to our detailed guides on each part. Figures are for the 2026/27 financial year and for England unless we say otherwise.

What care costs

Care is expensive, and what you pay depends on the type of care, where you live and whether the council is paying. A council often pays a care home less than a person who pays for themselves, so self-funders are often charged more for the same room.

Care at home is charged by the hour, or by the week for live-in care. For someone who needs a few visits a day it can cost less than a care home. For someone who needs help around the clock, a care home can work out cheaper.

• How much does a care home cost in the UK?
• Home care costs per hour
• Compare the cost of a care home with care at home (calculator)

Who pays: the council's means test

If someone needs care, the council will first assess their needs, then look at their money in a financial assessment, often called the means test. In England the rules are:

• Over £23,250 in capital: you usually pay the full cost of your care yourself (you are a "self-funder") until your capital falls to £23,250.
• Between £14,250 and £23,250: the council helps, but you pay a "tariff income" of £1 a week for every £250 you have above £14,250, plus most of your income.
• Under £14,250: your savings are ignored, and you pay towards your care from your income only.

Capital includes savings, investments and, in some cases, property. Income includes pensions and most benefits. Northern Ireland uses the same limits as England; Scotland and Wales use different ones (see below).

• The care home means test, explained
• Who pays for care home fees?
• How to apply for council funding
• Will the council pay? Try our calculator, or use your council's own figures

Your home

Your home is never counted if you get care in your own home. If you move into a care home permanently, it can be counted. The main exceptions are when:

• a husband, wife or partner still lives there;
• a relative who is aged 60 or over, or who is disabled, still lives there; or
• it is during the first 12 weeks of a permanent care home stay. This "12-week property disregard" gives time to decide what to do.

There are a few other cases, so ask the council how the rules apply to you.

If your home is counted and you don't want to sell it straight away, you can ask the council for a deferred payment agreement. The council pays some of your care costs and is paid back later, usually when the home is sold. Equity release is another option some families look at, but it needs specialist advice.

• Using your home to pay for care
• Deferred payment agreements
• Equity release and care home fees
• How long would a home's value pay for care? (calculator)

When the council pays: top-ups and pocket money

If the council is paying, it will offer at least one home that meets your needs for the amount it usually pays. You can choose a more expensive home, but someone, usually a relative, may have to pay the difference. This is called a top-up fee, and it should be agreed in writing.

If the council pays for your care home, you keep a small weekly amount of your income for personal things, called the Personal Expenses Allowance.

• Care home top-up fees, explained
• The Personal Expenses Allowance

When the NHS pays

If someone's care is needed mainly because of a health condition, the NHS may pay for all of it through NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC). It is not means-tested, so savings and the home are not touched. The first step is a CHC Checklist, which you can ask the GP, hospital team or social worker to carry out. Many families never ask, so it is always worth checking.

If someone lives in a nursing home and doesn't qualify for CHC, the NHS still pays towards their nursing through NHS-funded Nursing Care: £267.68 a week in England in 2026/27, paid straight to the home.

• NHS Continuing Healthcare: could the NHS pay for your care?
• NHS-funded Nursing Care
• Who pays for hospice care at home?

Benefits you can still claim

Attendance Allowance is for people over State Pension age who need help with personal care. It is not means-tested. In 2026/27 it is £76.70 a week at the lower rate and £114.60 at the higher rate. You can usually keep claiming it in a care home if you pay for the home yourself. People under State Pension age claim Personal Independence Payment instead.

Your State Pension continues when you move into a care home. If the council helps with the cost, most of your income, including your pension, goes towards your care.

• Benefits you can claim in a care home
• Attendance Allowance in a care home
• Do you lose your State Pension in a care home?

Making your money last

If you are paying for your own care, plan for the fees rising each year and for care lasting longer than you expect. Some people buy an immediate needs annuity: a lump sum paid to an insurer in return for an income that pays towards care for life. When your capital falls to the upper limit, ask the council for an assessment in good time so that help starts when it should.

• Making your money last as a self-funder
• Immediate needs annuities
• What happens when your savings run out?
• Cutting care costs

Protecting your home and savings: what the rules allow

Many families ask whether they can give money or a home away, or put it in a trust, to avoid care fees. Be careful. If the council decides that someone deliberately reduced their assets to avoid paying for care, it can treat them as still owning those assets. This is called deprivation of assets. Get independent legal advice before making any gift or setting up a trust with care fees in mind.

• Ways to reduce care home fees
• Can a trust protect your home from care fees?
• Family protection trusts
• Protective property trusts
• Giving an early inheritance

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Care is paid for differently in each part of the UK:

• Scotland: the upper capital limit is £36,750 and the lower is £22,750. Everyone assessed as needing it gets free personal care (£260.30 a week towards care home fees in 2026/27), plus £117.10 a week for nursing care in a nursing home, whatever their savings. NHS Continuing Healthcare was replaced in 2015.
• Wales: there is a single capital limit of £50,000 for residential care, with no sliding "tariff" band.
• Northern Ireland: the limits are the same as England's (£23,250 and £14,250), and the local Trust pays £100 a week towards nursing care in a nursing home.

• How care funding differs across the UK
• Care home funding in Wales

What happened to the £86,000 care cap?

A lifetime cap of £86,000 on personal care costs in England was planned for October 2025. In July 2024 the government announced it would not go ahead, so there is currently no cap on what you can pay for care in England.

• The care cap, explained

After someone dies

Any care fees still owed are usually paid from the person's estate before it is shared out. Relatives are not personally responsible unless they signed an agreement to pay, such as a top-up agreement.

• Who pays unpaid care home fees after death?

Official information

• Paying for your own care (NHS)
• NHS Continuing Healthcare (NHS)
• NHS-funded nursing care (NHS)
• Attendance Allowance (GOV.UK)
• Care and support statutory guidance (GOV.UK)
• The cancelled care cap (GOV.UK)
• Charging for social care (Welsh Government)
• Getting care services (Care Information Scotland)
• Paying for care (Age UK)

This guide is general information, not financial or legal advice. Rules and rates change each April. Always ask your council for a financial assessment, and consider free advice from Age UK or Citizens Advice.