Social care: getting assessed and paying for care

The assessment decides what help you need. A separate financial assessment decides how much you pay. If your savings are above £23,250 you usually pay for your own care.

The needs assessment

You'll need to have this assessment before the council can recommend a service such as:

• equipment like a walking frame or personal alarm
• changes to your home, such as a walk-in shower
• practical help from a paid carer
• day care for your child if either you or they are disabled
• access to day centres and lunch clubs

Contact social services at your local council and ask for a needs assessment. You can call them or do it online.

The carer's assessment

If you care for someone, you can have an assessment to see what might help make your life easier. This is called a carer's assessment.

It might recommend someone to take over caring so you can take a break, help with taxi fares if you don't drive, or advice about benefits for carers.

It's separate from the needs assessment the person you care for might have, but you can ask to have them both done at the same time.

Paying for care

You will usually have to pay for your own care if you have savings worth more than £23,250, which is called the upper capital limit.

If your savings fall below the upper capital limit of £23,250, your council might be able to help with the cost of care.

A deferred payment scheme can be useful if you have savings less than the upper capital limit of £23,250 and all your money is tied up in your property.

Getting the money yourself

If the council agrees to help, you get a personal budget, and you can take it as direct payments to arrange care yourself. People with complex health needs may get care paid for by the NHS through NHS continuing healthcare.

Common questions

Keep going