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In order to qualify for financial help from the council, you will first need to be assessed as having eligible care needs. You can use our online needs checker tool for an indication of whether you may be eligible for support from us.
Some people with long-term complex health needs qualify for free social care arranged and funded solely by the NHS. This is called NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC). If you think you may be eligible for CHC, you can contact Hampshire & Isle of Wight ICB directly for an assessment.
Capital includes money that you have in or from the following:
There are some types of capital that we may not include as assessable capital when working out if someone is eligible for funding assistance, such as money you have received as compensation for a personal injury.
If you have more than £23,250 in capital, you are unlikely to be eligible for any funding assistance from the Council.
Even if you have to pay the full cost of care yourself, you can still ask us to arrange your home care for you if you have eligible care needs. (You can use our online Needs Checker tool to see if you may be eligible for support from us). We can enter into a contract to pay the provider on your behalf and you will need to pay us for all the costs incurred. If we agree to enter into a contract with your care provider, you will be charged a one-off fee of £296 and then £6 per week thereafter to cover our administration costs.
If you are paying the full cost of you care, we always recommend that you seek independent financial advice and check whether you are entitled to claim any benefits. (e.g. Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment).
'Capital depletion' and top up fees
It is very important that you and your family consider what will happen if your savings were to fall below the 'capital threshold' of £23,250. It is recommended that you contact us when your capital reaches £40,000 or less to allow time for us to assess your care and support needs. Please phone 0300 555 1386. The Council will assess your care and support needs. You will always be offered at least one care home place that will meet your eligible needs. However, it will not necessarily pay for your current accommodation if this is more expensive than the authority would usually expect to pay in order to meet your assessed needs.
If you wish to stay in your current accommodation, you might need to ask your family or another third party to pay a 'top up' fee to the care home. A top up is where a third party (or, in some very limited circumstances, you) pay the difference between what the council would reasonably expect to pay and the rate charged by your chosen care home. More information about top up payments.
Deferred payment agreement
You may have to pay the full cost of your care yourself but you cannot access your capital as it is tied up in your home. If you are finding it difficult to sell your home, or don’t wish to sell your home, you can request a long-term loan from the Council known as a ‘deferred payment agreement’. You will need to be assessed by the Council as needing residential care and they will need to carry out a financial assessment. More information about deferred payment agreements.
Further information
If you do not own a property, you may qualify for funding towards the cost of your care if your weekly income is less than the amount that Adult Services will pay for the care. For more information about your income, and what we take into account, see our Financial Assessment information.
NB If you have given money away at the time a future care need was foreseeable, or care had already commenced, then HCC is likely to take this into consideration as part of the financial assessment.
It is against the law to intentionally give away or decrease your savings or property (your assets) in order to avoid paying your care fees. Local authorities will only fund care after a thorough financial assessment and they can refuse to fund care if they believe that ‘deprivation of assets’ has taken place.
If you own a property and currently live in it, you may be eligible for Adult Services funding towards the cost of your care.
If you own a property but do not currently live in that property, you are unlikely to be eligible for any funding assistance from the Council and may be expected to meet the full cost of your care yourself. This is also the case if you own more than one property.
Even if you have more than £23,250 in capital, we can still arrange your care for you if you have eligible care needs. (You can use our online Needs Checker tool to see if you may be eligible for support from us).
Your property will be disregarded if you are only having a short stay in a care home and you may be eligible for Adult Services assistance and/or funding towards the cost of your care if your weekly income is less than the amount that Adult Services will pay for the care.
If you are going into permanent care in a care home, there may be circumstances where we disregard the value of the property you own and live in.
If you live alone before going into permanent residential care and own the property you live in, you may be eligible for the 12 week property disregard. This is where we disregard the value of your property for the first 12 weeks of your permanent stay in a care home.
You will still be assessed to pay towards your care from the rest of your capital and your income.
At the end of the 12 week property disregard period, you will be assessed to pay the full cost of your care because the value of your property will be included in the financial assessment.
You may be eligible for a Deferred Payments Agreement to help meet the shortfall in the cost of your care from the amount you are assessed to pay from your income each week.
Detailed information can be found on our Paying for care in a care home information page.
If someone else lives in the property with you and they will continue to live in the property after you have gone into a care home permanently, we will not normally take the value of the property into your financial assessment for care if they fall into the following categories:
We will also consider disregarding the property if the person who lives there is your carer and has no other home available to them.
