How do you pay for care at home?
There are four main routes, and most families use more than one: help from the council after an assessment, benefits that pay out whatever your savings, NHS funding when health needs are high enough, and paying privately. Attendance Allowance alone is worth up to £114.60 a week and isn't means-tested.
Start with a needs assessment — it's free
Before any money changes hands, ask your local council for a care needs assessment. Anyone can request one, it costs nothing, and the person doesn't have to have low savings to qualify for it. A social worker or assessor looks at what the person can and can't manage — washing, dressing, meals, medication, getting around the house — and writes down what support would help. This is the step that opens every other door, because it produces the official picture of need that council funding, and sometimes NHS funding, is decided from.
If the assessment finds the person is eligible for support, the council then does a separate financial assessment to work out who pays. The two are deliberately kept apart: needs first, money second. Even someone who will clearly pay for everything themselves benefits from the needs assessment, because it names the hours and the type of care that would actually work.
Will the council pay towards care?
That depends on where you live and on savings. In England the financial assessment looks at capital — savings, investments and, for care at home, usually not the value of the home you live in. Two thresholds decide the outcome, and they've been frozen since 2010.
| How you pay for care at home | What it depends on | Figure (2026/27) |
|---|---|---|
| England: you pay the full cost | Capital above the upper limit | £23,250 |
| England: council contributes, you pay a share | Capital between the two limits | £14,250–£23,250 |
| England: savings no longer counted (income still is) | Capital at or below the lower limit | £14,250 |
| England: assumed "tariff" income on the middle band | Per £250 of capital above the lower limit | £1 a week |
| Wales: most the council can charge for care at home | Weekly maximum, whatever the cost | £100 a week |
Sources: Care and Support Statutory Guidance under the Care Act 2014, capital limits for England (gov.uk) — £23,250 upper, £14,250 lower, tariff income £1 per £250, unchanged for 2026/27; Welsh Government, weekly maximum charge for non-residential care maintained at £100 for 2026/27 (gov.wales, December 2024).
Above £23,250 in England you're a self-funder and pay the full rate. Between the two figures the council pays part and you contribute from income plus an assumed £1 a week for every £250 of savings in that band. At or below £14,250 your savings stop counting, though most of your income still goes towards the bill, less a protected amount for living costs. Councils can also choose to charge nothing — the rules set a ceiling, not a floor.
Benefits that help whatever your savings
This is the part families most often miss. Some benefits are paid on need alone, with no test of savings or income, so they're worth claiming even if the council won't contribute a penny.
Attendance Allowance is the big one for people over State Pension age. It pays £76.70 a week if help is needed by day or by night, and £114.60 a week if help is needed both — or if someone is nearing the end of life. It doesn't matter how much is in the bank, and the money is yours to spend on whatever makes life manageable, including care. For working-age adults, Personal Independence Payment does a similar job. Claiming either can also unlock extra Pension Credit or a Council Tax reduction, so a successful claim is often worth more than the headline figure.
If a relative or friend provides the care, they may be able to claim Carer's Allowance — £86.45 a week for caring at least 35 hours, as long as they earn no more than £204 a week after tax, National Insurance and certain expenses. It's taxable and it can affect the carer's other benefits, so it's worth checking the sum before relying on it. Each of these has its own page in this section with the eligibility rules and how to claim.
When the NHS pays: continuing healthcare
If someone's needs are mainly to do with health rather than day-to-day help, the NHS may cover the entire cost of care through NHS Continuing Healthcare. It's fully funded and not means-tested: savings and income are irrelevant. The test is whether the person has what the National Framework calls a "primary health need", judged on things like the complexity, intensity and unpredictability of what they need. It's hard to qualify for and the assessment is involved, but it's the one route that pays for everything, so it's always worth asking about when health needs are significant or changing fast.
Paying privately, and direct payments
Plenty of families arrange and pay for care themselves, either because they're over the savings limit or because they'd rather not wait for the council. If you do, the needs assessment is still worth having for the plan it gives you, and the cost of care page in our costs section shows what hourly and weekly rates to expect.
Where the council does fund care, you don't have to let it arrange everything. A direct payment is the council's contribution paid to you as money instead, so you can choose the provider or employ a carer directly and shape the support around the person's routine. It comes with some paperwork and a duty to spend it on the agreed care, but it hands back control, which for many families is the whole point.
The rules differ across the UK
How care at home is funded isn't the same in all four nations, so check the rules where the person lives. In Scotland, personal care at home — help with washing, dressing, continence and medication — is free for anyone a council assesses as needing it, whatever their age, income or savings, under the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002; councils can still charge for things like housework and shopping. Wales caps what a council can charge for non-residential care at £100 a week. In Northern Ireland, home care is arranged through Health and Social Care Trusts rather than councils, and domiciliary care is generally provided without charge. England is the only nation that runs the full capital-limit means test described above.
In this section
These pages take each funding route in turn — the assessments, the benefits and the NHS funding — and explain exactly how to claim.
Common questions
If you already know care is needed, tell us what's needed and where, and home care providers covering that postcode will contact you. It's free and there's no obligation.