The short answer
- A care home covers a room, meals, staff and personal care togetherThe weekly fee is meant to include everything for daily life: washing, dressing, meals, laundry and staff on duty day and night. Ask what is charged on top before anyone signs anything.
- A residential place costs around £1,160 a week, a nursing place nearer £1,410Costs vary a great deal by area and by home, and few families end up paying exactly the average.
- Above £23,250 in savings, your relative pays in fullBelow that the council contributes on a sliding scale, and the NHS can pay towards nursing care, or in some cases the whole cost.
- Staying at home is worth ruling in or out firstA care needs assessment and a look at live-in care settle whether a move is necessary yet, and neither costs anything to find out.
Figures are PrimeCarers pricing data and gov.uk means-test thresholds, both current for 2026/27. Ask any home you are considering for its own exact fee.
What it is
What a care home offers day to day
A care home is not a hospital ward. Most are ordinary looking houses or purpose-built single-storey and low-rise buildings, with a bedroom, communal lounges, a dining room and usually a garden, staffed around the clock. The weekly fee is meant to cover everything needed for daily life in one place.
A room of their own
Personal care, day and night
Company and activities
Two kinds of registration
Care home is often used loosely for both kinds of place, but they are two separate registrations, and the difference is about staffing rather than comfort or the standard of the building. Differences between a nursing home and a care home explains exactly what a registered nurse on duty adds, and the signs your relative might need one rather than a residential place.
Most homes let a resident bring some of their own furniture, photographs and belongings, so the room feels like theirs rather than borrowed. A member of staff is always awake and on duty, including overnight, which is one of the clearest differences between a care home and live-in care, where a single carer sleeps in the house and is woken if something happens rather than already awake to see it.
When to consider it
Signs it might be time to think about a care home, and signs it might not be yet
Needs usually build up slowly, and a family who sees somebody every day can be the last to notice how much has changed. A council care needs assessment settles this properly, but it helps to know what it is looking for.
Has any of this been true recently?
0 of 7 ticked
Safety and health
Day to day
The family
None of this means a decision has to be made today. If two or three of these sound familiar, ask the council for a care needs assessment; it is free, and it settles the level of care your relative needs rather than leaving the family to guess. If dementia is the main driver, the seven stages of dementia explains roughly where a move tends to become necessary.
What it costs
What a care home costs a week
Care home fees vary more than almost any other cost in this guide, because they depend on the area, the building and the level of care needed. These figures are a starting point, not a quote.
£1,160
a week, typical residential care home fee
Range about £1,100 to £1,600, depending on the area and the home.
£1,410
a week, typical nursing home fee
Before any NHS-funded nursing care is deducted from it.
£23,250
in savings and assets is the point above which your relative pays in full
Below it, the council contributes on a sliding scale. See who pays, below.
PrimeCarers pricing data and gov.uk capital limits, 2026/27.
For one person needing significant daily support, a care home is often cheaper than paying for several visits a day, though it is a bigger step to take and harder to reverse. Is live-in care cheaper than a care home? sets the two out side by side using the same figures.
Who pays
Self-funding, the council and the NHS: how a care home fee gets paid
Four different pots of money can pay towards a care home fee, and most families end up drawing on more than one at once. The ladder below shows roughly where your relative is likely to sit, based on their savings and their health.
- Tier 1
Self-funding
Who: Savings and assets, including the home once nobody eligible still lives there, above £23,250.
Pays: The full weekly fee, to any home the family can afford.
The council must still carry out a needs assessment if asked, and will arrange the placement even for a self-funder who wants that help.
- Tier 2
Council part-funded
Who: Savings between £14,250 and £23,250.
Pays: A contribution set by the financial assessment, roughly £1 a week for every £250 of savings above £14,250, with the council paying the rest.
Income above the Personal Expenses Allowance is also counted towards the contribution.
- Tier 3
Council fully funded
Who: Savings below £14,250.
Pays: The council pays the assessed rate. Your relative contributes from income, keeping a Personal Expenses Allowance of about £31.80 a week for themselves.
The council's assessed rate is sometimes lower than a chosen home's fee, which is where a third-party top-up comes in.
- Can sit alongside any tier
NHS-funded
Who: Anyone assessed as needing nursing care in a nursing home, whatever their savings, or anyone whose primary need is health rather than daily living.
Pays: NHS-funded nursing care pays about £267.68 a week towards the nursing element, on top of whichever tier above applies. NHS Continuing Healthcare, for a smaller number of people, pays the whole fee instead and is not means-tested.
These two are different awards. Ask about both rather than assuming one rules out the other.
Source: gov.uk social care charging guidance and NHS-funded nursing care rate, 2026/27.
The rules are different from paying for care at home. For a care home, your relative's own home usually counts as an asset once nobody eligible still lives in it, whereas it is disregarded altogether while paying for help at home. Because of that, the value of the house often decides which tier of the ladder above your relative falls into.
Giving money or the house away specifically to avoid a care home fee does not usually work. If a council decides that is what happened, it can assess your relative as though they still owned it, a rule known as deprivation of assets. Get independent legal or financial advice before moving money for this reason, rather than for its own sake.
If the family wants a more expensive home than the council's usual rate covers, a top-up fee makes up the difference, but it can normally only be paid by a third party, such as a relative or a charity, not by the resident themselves. The council must show that at least one suitable and affordable home is available before asking for a top-up, and nobody can be forced to keep paying one indefinitely; if the money stops, the council must reassess before anyone is asked to move.
A lifetime cap on what any one person would pay for care was planned for October 2025 but was cancelled by the government before it started, so there is currently no limit on the total a self-funder can spend on care over time. Attendance Allowance keeps being paid while your relative is self-funding a place, but it stops after 28 days once the council or the NHS is paying for it, in full or in part.
Choosing well
How to choose a home, and what to check before you visit
Two homes at a similar price can be very different places to live. A little checking before you visit narrows the list down to the ones worth seeing in person.
Worth checking
- The home's current CQC rating and its most recent inspection report, both free on the Care Quality Commission's website
- How many staff are on duty at once, especially overnight, rather than just the number listed on the rota
- Whether the home is dual registered, so a later move to nursing care would not mean moving house again
- What a typical day and a typical mealtime look like, ideally seen in person rather than described in a brochure
- The contract: notice periods, what triggers a fee increase, and exactly what is and is not included in the weekly fee
Do not rely on
- A brochure or a friendly manager alone, without reading the inspection report behind the headline rating
- A single visit at a quiet time of day, arranged well in advance
- Word of mouth about "the best home in the area" without checking it still holds the rating that earned the reputation
- Assuming a higher weekly fee always means a better standard of care
About eight in ten of the care homes with a published rating in England are currently rated Good or Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission, so a poor rating is the exception rather than the rule, and it is worth ruling a home out over one rather than hoping it has improved since the last inspection. The Care Quality Commission's service search lists every registered home in England with its current rating and its full report, free to read.
Many homes, and some councils, can arrange a short trial stay before a permanent move is agreed, which is worth asking for if your relative or the family is still unsure. A trial does not commit anyone to staying, and it is often a better way to judge a home than a single visit.
Staying at home instead
Whether staying at home could still work
A care home is one route, not the only one. Depending on what your relative needs, some of the same daily support can be arranged at home, sometimes for longer than families assume.
| Visits at home | Live-in care | A care home | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it covers | Visits for specific tasks: mornings, meals, medication | A carer living in, covering the whole day and night | Staff on duty around the clock for every resident |
| Where | Your relative's own home | Your relative's own home, with a spare room for the carer | A room in the care home |
| Tends to suit | Needs that fit into a few visits a day | One person needing frequent help but not nursing care | Needs that are constant, unpredictable, or need nursing input |
| A guide to cost | £18 to £25 an hour, with our fee included | From £1,050 a week, with our fee included | Around £1,160 a week, more for nursing care |
What it covers
- Visits at home
- Visits for specific tasks: mornings, meals, medication
- Live-in care
- A carer living in, covering the whole day and night
- A care home
- Staff on duty around the clock for every resident
Where
- Visits at home
- Your relative's own home
- Live-in care
- Your relative's own home, with a spare room for the carer
- A care home
- A room in the care home
Tends to suit
- Visits at home
- Needs that fit into a few visits a day
- Live-in care
- One person needing frequent help but not nursing care
- A care home
- Needs that are constant, unpredictable, or need nursing input
A guide to cost
- Visits at home
- £18 to £25 an hour, with our fee included
- Live-in care
- From £1,050 a week, with our fee included
- A care home
- Around £1,160 a week, more for nursing care
PrimeCarers pricing data, 2026. A carer found through PrimeCarers supports personal care and company; nursing tasks that legally require a registered nurse are outside what any home carer, live-in or otherwise, can do.
Live-in care, where a self-employed carer moves into a spare room, covers most of what a residential care home does: washing, dressing, meals, medication prompts and company, with the addition of staying in a familiar house. How live-in care works sets out what a typical arrangement looks like, and because there is no building to run, it is often cheaper than a care home for one person.
Where the house itself is the problem rather than the level of care, choosing a house for later life and community retirement living are two ways to stay independent with support close by, without a care home or the full commitment of live-in care. Where nursing needs are frequent and unpredictable, a nursing home's round-the-clock staff usually serve someone better than piecing support together at home.
PrimeCarers is an introductory service. It does not provide or manage care itself, and self-employed carers found through the site support personal care and company, but not nursing tasks that legally require a registered nurse.
How to start
From this page to a decision
Four steps, and the first two are free and can run alongside each other.
- 1
Ask for a care needs assessment
FreeContact adult social care at the council, or ask a GP, hospital discharge team or district nurse to refer your relative. It settles what level of care is needed and is the first step towards any council funding. - 2
Ask for a financial assessment once you have a figure to work with
FreeThis decides which tier of funding applies, and it is worth doing even if you expect to self-fund, since it puts a written record in place for later. - 3
Check ratings and read the inspection report before you visit
FreeLook up every home you are considering on the Care Quality Commission's website, and ask about a trial stay if anyone is still unsure. - 4
If staying at home might still work, look at live-in care first
This weekSearch live-in carers near your relative's postcode. It costs nothing to look, and talking to a carer can help you judge whether staying at home is realistic before committing to a move.
Questions
Questions families ask about care homes
Staffing. A residential care home offers a room, meals, company and help with washing, dressing and medication. A nursing home offers all of that plus a registered nurse on duty day and night, for people with ongoing medical needs a carer is not trained or allowed to manage. Differences between a nursing home and a care home explains the signs that point towards one rather than the other.
A typical residential place costs around £1,160 a week, and a typical nursing place around £1,410, though both vary a great deal by area and by home, roughly £1,100 to £1,600 for a residential place. Ask any home you are considering for its own fee and a written breakdown of what it includes.
Not immediately. The value of the home is disregarded for the first 12 weeks of a permanent stay, and after that a Deferred Payment Agreement lets the council pay the fee on your relative's behalf, secured against the house rather than needing a sale straight away. Interest is charged on the loan, and it is repaid when the house is eventually sold or from the estate. Ask adult social care about this before agreeing to sell anything.
Sometimes, in part or in full. Anyone assessed as needing nursing care in a nursing home gets NHS-funded nursing care automatically, about £267.68 a week towards the nursing element, whatever their savings. A smaller number of people whose main need is health rather than daily living qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare instead, which pays the whole fee and is not means-tested.
It keeps being paid as normal while your relative is paying for the place themselves. It stops after 28 days once the council or the NHS starts paying for the place, in full or in part, because it exists to help with costs that would otherwise go unfunded. Attendance Allowance covers how to claim it before that point is reached.
The difference between what the council will pay for a place and the fee at a more expensive home the family prefers. It can normally only be paid by a third party, such as a relative or a charity, not by the resident. The council must first show that at least one suitable and affordable home is available, and if the top-up payments stop, it must reassess your relative rather than simply asking them to leave.
No. A cap of £86,000 was planned for October 2025 but was cancelled by the government before it took effect, so a self-funder currently has no limit on the total they may spend on care over time. There is no confirmed date for a cap to be reintroduced.
Look it up on the Care Quality Commission's service search, which is free and shows every registered home's current rating, Outstanding, Good, Requires improvement or Inadequate, alongside its full inspection report. Read the report itself rather than only the headline rating, since it sets out what the inspectors found in detail.