The short answer
- The first six weeks are free, not means-testedNHS and council reablement support at home is free at the point of use for up to six weeks after discharge, whatever your parent has in savings.
- A review before week six decides what happens nextIt settles whether ongoing care is funded by the council, funded by the NHS through Continuing Healthcare, or arranged and paid for by your family.
- The first fortnight is when things go wrongA wound that will not heal, a medicine muddle and an unsteady walk are the usual causes of a readmission, and a daily visit often catches them early.
- Hiring a carer yourselves is often cheaper than an agencyCarers on PrimeCarers charge £18 to £25 an hour with our fee included, against £28 to £35 through an agency.
Figures are 2026/27 and checked against gov.uk, NHS England and Age UK on 4 September 2026. We are not benefits or healthcare advisers: for your parent's own situation, the hospital discharge team, the council's adult social care line and Age UK (0800 678 1602) give free advice.
The first six weeks
What the free weeks after discharge cover
Most hospitals will not send your parent home without some support in place, and for up to six weeks that support is free, arranged jointly by the NHS and the council. It is sometimes called intermediate care, reablement, or discharge to assess. The name changes from area to area; the free period does not.
District nursing and medical follow-up
Physiotherapy and occupational therapy
Help with washing, dressing and meals
Equipment on loan
Most of this happens at home, but not always. If your parent needs more support than a daily visit can give while they are still too frail to manage the stairs or a night alone, the discharge team may offer a temporary bed in a community hospital or a care home instead, with the same free six weeks and the same goal of getting them home once they are steadier. It is a normal part of the same pathway, not a sign that home is no longer possible.
How much of this your parent gets, and for how long within the six weeks, depends on what the discharge team assesses before they leave hospital and on what a particular area provides. Some areas offer close to the full six weeks as standard, others review sooner if your parent is managing well. Ask the discharge team directly what has been arranged, who is coming and when, and what number to ring if something is not working.
Where it leads
The review before the six weeks end, and the three routes it opens
Somewhere in the six weeks, usually before they are up, a social worker or the reablement team looks at how your parent is managing and asks whether they still need help. This review is the moment that decides what happens once the free period ends, so it helps to know the three routes before it happens rather than during it.
Before you leave hospital
The discharge team plans the first weeks at home
A discharge coordinator, ward nurse or social worker should talk to you before your parent leaves, not on the day itself. Say plainly what worries you about them managing at home, and ask what has been arranged for the first 48 hours.
Weeks 1 to 6
Free NHS and council support, whatever your parent has in savings
Intermediate care or reablement, sometimes called "discharge to assess", is free at the point of use for up to six weeks. Nobody asks about income or savings during this period, and it is separate from any council funding your parent may need afterwards.
Before the six weeks end
A review decides what happens next
A social worker or the reablement team assesses how your parent is managing and whether ongoing support is needed. This is the point that decides which of the three routes below applies, and it is worth being in the room for.
Where the review can lead
Council funding
If your parent has eligible care needs and less than £23,250 in savings, the council contributes towards ongoing care, either arranged for them or as a direct payment you spend on a carer you choose.
How council funding works and what the means test looks at
NHS Continuing Healthcare
If the ongoing need is mainly a health one, complex, intense or unpredictable, the NHS can fund the whole package regardless of savings. The hospital team can start a checklist before discharge.
Who qualifies for NHS Continuing Healthcare and how it is assessed
Paying for care yourselves
Many families choose this route even when some council funding is available, because it means picking the carer and the hours rather than fitting a rota. It is covered later on this page.
What hiring a carer directly costs, further down this page
None of the three routes rule the others out. A family often ends up mixing them: a council-funded morning call alongside a carer the family pays for directly, or NHS Continuing Healthcare covering a nursing need while the family arranges company and help around the house on top. If your parent qualifies for NHS Continuing Healthcare, ask about a personal health budget too: it turns the value of their care plan into an amount you control, so you can choose who comes rather than take whoever the NHS commissions. NHS Continuing Healthcare explained covers how a personal health budget works and who can ask for one. The different types of care funding sets out how the routes fit together across the whole of a parent's care, not only the weeks after hospital.
What to watch for
Signs recovery is not going the way it should
Most readmissions to hospital in the weeks after discharge trace back to a small number of causes: an infection missed, medication muddled, a fall, or somebody managing alone who should not be. None of them are something you can prevent completely, but a family or carer who sees your parent every day is often the one who notices a problem early enough for it to matter.
Worth checking in the first fortnight
0 of 8 ticked
The wound, the medicines and the follow-up
Eating, moving and confusion
You
If in doubt, ring 111 or the GP rather than waiting for the next scheduled visit. The reablement or district nursing team would rather be called about something that turns out to be nothing than hear about a problem a week too late.
Paying yourselves
What it costs to hire a carer directly once the free weeks end
Whether or not the council or the NHS is funding part of your parent's care, many families choose to arrange some of it themselves, because it means picking the carer and the hours rather than fitting a rota built for somebody else's morning.
| An agency | A carer on PrimeCarers | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per hour | £28 to £35 | £18 to £25, with our fee included |
| Who the carer is | Whoever the rota assigns, and it can change from one visit to the next | A carer you choose and message directly, and the same one each visit if you both want that |
| Shortest visit | Often 15 or 30 minutes | An hour, or 30 minutes with a carer who offers shorter visits |
| Can a council direct payment pay for it | ||
| Setting it up | A contract with the agency, sometimes with a minimum number of weeks | Search, message and book, with the notice to change or stop visits agreed directly with the carer |
Cost per hour
- An agency
- £28 to £35
- A carer on PrimeCarers
- £18 to £25, with our fee included
Who the carer is
- An agency
- Whoever the rota assigns, and it can change from one visit to the next
- A carer on PrimeCarers
- A carer you choose and message directly, and the same one each visit if you both want that
Shortest visit
- An agency
- Often 15 or 30 minutes
- A carer on PrimeCarers
- An hour, or 30 minutes with a carer who offers shorter visits
Can a council direct payment pay for it
- An agency
- A carer on PrimeCarers
Setting it up
- An agency
- A contract with the agency, sometimes with a minimum number of weeks
- A carer on PrimeCarers
- Search, message and book, with the notice to change or stop visits agreed directly with the carer
Figures are what carers on PrimeCarers charge, checked September 2026. A council direct payment can be spent on either, and on a live-in carer too if your parent needs somebody there day and night; live-in care on PrimeCarers starts at £1,050 a week.
PrimeCarers charges nothing to arrange or cancel a visit. The visit itself is separate: your carer is self-employed and has turned down other work for that time, so a visit you cancel is payable in full unless it is due to unplanned hospitalisation, illness, or something you and the carer agree between you. If your parent needs heavier support after a serious operation, help through the night as well as the day, for example, live-in care or a few nights of overnight care a week covers that without needing several different carers across the week. How to privately fund care covers the wider budgeting question, including using savings or a parent's own pension towards it.
For the family carer
Support for you, not only for your parent
The weeks after a hospital stay usually fall hardest on whichever family member is nearest. There is support aimed specifically at you, separate from anything arranged for your parent, and it is worth claiming before you are worn out rather than after.
If a brother, sister or other relative could take on some of the paid hours instead of you, or if your parent would rather pay a family member directly than a stranger, can my mum pay me to care for her? covers the tax, Carer's Allowance and council rules that come with it.
How to start
From the discharge ward to the first carer visit
Four steps, and the first two cost nothing. Most families have a plan for the weeks ahead before your parent has even left the hospital car park.
- 1
Ask the discharge team what is already arranged
Before dischargeGet it written down: who is coming, when, and for how long. Ask directly whether an NHS Continuing Healthcare checklist should be started now, particularly if your parent's needs are complex or changing quickly. - 2
Tell adult social care if the free weeks are not enough
By week 4 or 5Do not wait for the review to be offered if your parent is clearly struggling sooner. Ask for the assessment to happen early, and ask for your own carer's assessment at the same visit. - 3
Look at carers near your parent while you wait
FreeSearch hourly carers by postcode so you have a shortlist ready whichever route the review points to. Every carer has been interviewed online, and their identity, right to work and enhanced DBS are checked before they appear. They are insured while they work. - 4
Book a short first period, then adjust
Week 1Start with the visits you are already sure are needed, a morning call is the most common first booking, and add or drop hours as the reablement team's advice and your parent's own progress become clearer.
Questions
Questions families ask about care after a hospital stay
Up to six weeks, through NHS and council intermediate care or reablement support, sometimes called discharge to assess. It is free at the point of use whatever your parent has in savings, though what is offered and for how long within that period varies by area.
The hospital discharge team, usually a discharge coordinator or a ward-based social worker, working with the council and community NHS services. They should talk to you before your parent leaves hospital, not on the day itself, and it is reasonable to ask exactly what has been arranged and by when.
No. It is free regardless of your parent's savings or income. The means test only applies to care arranged afterwards, if the review decides ongoing support should be funded by the council rather than the NHS.
A review before the free period ends decides whether ongoing care is funded by the council (means-tested, with an upper savings threshold of £23,250 in England), funded by the NHS through Continuing Healthcare (not means-tested, for a mainly health-related need), or arranged and paid for by the family. The different types of care funding covers all three.
NHS Continuing Healthcare funds the whole of an ongoing care package, including care at home, for somebody whose main need is a health one rather than a social care one. Unlike the six-week discharge package it is not time-limited, and it is reviewed rather than automatically withdrawn. A decision usually takes up to 28 days, or as little as 48 hours under the fast track for a rapidly deteriorating condition. NHS Continuing Healthcare explained covers who qualifies.
Usually not. The council and NHS commission the reablement or intermediate care service from an approved provider, so you cannot pick an individual carer the way you can once you are arranging and paying for care yourselves. If continuity of carer matters to your parent, that is one reason some families move to a carer they have chosen as soon as the free period allows.
Say so to the discharge team before the day arrives, in writing if you can. A hospital should not discharge somebody without a safe plan for their first days at home, and you have the right to ask what that plan is and to raise it with the ward sister or the hospital's patient advice and liaison service if you are not satisfied.
Yes, either alongside NHS or council-arranged support or instead of it once the free period ends. Carers on PrimeCarers charge £18 to £25 an hour with our fee included, against £28 to £35 through an agency, and a council direct payment can be spent on either. Hourly care covers how visits are booked.
If support at home is continuing for a limited period, read about arranging temporary live-in care and agreeing the dates and cover.