Understanding your care invoice

Unlike services that may be provided to you by the National Health Service, social care services are not provided free of charge (with some limited exceptions).

You will need a means tested financial assessment to determine how much you will be charged towards your care costs if you:

• are ordinarily a resident in Hampshire
• are over 18 years of age
• have been assessed as being eligible for care at home in the community, or in a care home

Your eligibility for financial assistance from the County Council will be determined by this assessment. Once the financial assessment is complete, we will write to you to let you know how much we will charge you for the care we arrange on your behalf.

Invoices will be raised based on that charge. Occasionally, if we need to gather further information to finalise your care charges, we may raise invoices on an interim amount. Once the financial assessment is completed, we will replace this interim amount with your final charge and issue any adjustment invoices or credits to your account.

When the Council arranges care on your behalf, we enter into a formal agreement with your care provider. This agreement may include payment for:

• non-attendance
• cancellations made with little or no notice
• instances where the provider attempted to deliver care but was unable to access the property or you were unavailable
• notice periods or termination fees related to live-in care or respite residential stays

We understand that unexpected changes can occur. However, if a provider has scheduled care, attempted to deliver it, or reserved a place for you, we may still be required to pay for that service. In such cases, you will still be expected to contribute your usual share of the care costs for that period.

For planned absences, it’s important to give as much notice as possible. This allows the provider to adjust their rota or offer the service to someone else. Notice periods vary between providers and may be applied at their discretion. We recommend familiarising yourself with your provider’s policy on charges for missed or cancelled care. If you need a copy, contact your care provider directly.

Most providers inform us when care has been cancelled, and we update our records accordingly to ensure your charges are accurate. However, there may be occasions when this information isn’t received in time for billing. If you receive an invoice that includes unexpected charges, contact us so that we can investigate and make any necessary adjustments.

Our care charges are based on your financial assessment and the care services we have arranged on your behalf. Invoices are issued every four weeks in arrears, allowing time for your care provider to inform us of any changes to your service.

Occasionally, we may not receive notification of a change before an invoice is generated. If this happens, we will review the charges for the relevant period once we are informed, and issue either an adjustment invoice or a credit note to ensure your account is updated accordingly.

You can check the balance on your account by raising a query with our Central Business Centre.

You can pay by direct debit, or on receipt of invoice. You can find more information about how to pay on the back of your invoice.

Our direct debits are fixed rather than variable. This means that the payment amount is set and will not change until the account is reviewed. If your care requirement changes and the amount we need to charge changes, your direct debit will not change automatically.

Instead, your account with the Council will be periodically reconciled. Any balance on the account will be included in the new direct debit schedule.

You can request a review of your direct debit by raising a query with our Central Business Centre.

Residential financial assessments require additional checks before the final figures are communicated. Whilst these additional checks are taking place, we will invoice you an interim amount until the full financial assessment has been finalised.

If we already hold some information relating to your financial circumstances, the interim assessment will be based on those details. If we do not hold any financial details, the interim assessment will be based on the minimum amount as set by the Department for Work and Pensions. Invoices will be raised based on those interim charges until the full financial assessment has been finalised.

Once the full financial assessment has been finalised the Residential Financial Assessment Team will write to you or your legal financial representative to inform them of the actual amount you need to pay towards the care. If the actual amount is different to the interim charge which has been paid, adjustment invoices will be raised to apply the finalised assessment from the first date of chargeable care.

Your financial assessment will confirm the care charges you need to pay immediately from your accessible income or savings, and the amount that is being applied to your deferred loan with the Council. This means you will receive two different types of invoices from Hampshire County Council:

The first will be for the immediately payable contribution, issued every 4 weeks in arrears and due for payment within 28 days of issue.

The second will be for the accrued debt. This invoice will show the amount of debt that is being recorded against the property and will be issued every 6 months. This will be followed by a statement showing overall amounts accrued and approximate interest that will be payable once the arrangement ends.

Care invoices will be sent directly to you if :

• you are acting as a deputy
• have power of attorney
• or are helping someone manage their finances

These payments should be made using the funds of the person receiving care. You are not personally responsible for paying these invoices from your own money.