The care cost cap: what was promised, what happened, and where it stands now

The cap was part of a wider set of changes to how people pay for care, which the government called charging reform. On 29 July 2024 the Chancellor published an audit of public spending that listed, among its savings, "Do not proceed with adult social care charging reforms". The reason given was that the previous government had committed to the reforms without setting money aside for them. The government's own page describing the reforms now carries a note that they "will not be taken forward in October 2025".

The legal power to have a cap still exists. Section 15 of the Care Act 2014 sets out how a cap would work, and it is still listed on legislation.gov.uk as not yet in force. A cap would need the government to bring that section into force and to set an amount, and it has not announced a plan to do either.

For your family, this means the rules that decide what your relative pays are the ones that have applied since 2015, and the government has kept the same limits for 2026/27. The funding care guide sets out every route to help with the cost, and the sections below explain how the cap would have worked and what counts instead.

Two things stand out from the dates. The first is that each plan was made law or announced in some detail, with figures and a start date, before being put back or dropped, and cost was the reason given both in 2015 and in 2024. The second is that the change made in 2022 would have altered who benefited. Under the Care Act as first written, the council's share of a person's care costs would have counted towards the cap as well as their own. The Health and Care Act 2022 changed that so only the money a person paid themselves would count, which meant people with modest savings who were already getting council help would have taken longer to reach the cap.

The independent commission is now the place where these questions are being looked at. When it was announced on 3 January 2025, the government said it would report in two phases, in 2026 and by 2028. On 29 July 2026 the Prime Minister brought that forward and asked for its report by summer 2027. The announcement did not mention a cap or changes to the means test, and the government has not committed to either.

The most important detail is the rate. The meter would not have run on what your family paid. It would have run on what the council would have paid to meet the same needs. If a council would pay for an hour of home care at a lower rate than the carer you chose, only the council's figure counted, and the difference came out of your relative's pocket without moving them any closer to the cap.

The second detail is eligibility. Only needs that the council had assessed as eligible under the national criteria counted. A family who paid for extra hours because they wanted their mother to have company in the afternoons, or who started paying before anybody from the council had been out to assess, would have spent that money outside the cap. The council would have kept a record of the running total, called a care account, and it could only start once there had been an assessment.

The third detail applied to care homes. The cap covered personal care, and it left out what the government called daily living costs: the room, food and bills. These were set at a notional £200 a week in 2021 prices, and a person in a care home would have gone on paying them after reaching the cap. Any top-up fee paid for a preferred room or home would not have counted either.

The means test starts with a care needs assessment, which is free and open to anyone whatever their savings. If the council agrees your relative has eligible needs, a separate financial assessment works out what they can afford to pay. The figures above are the national minimums for 2026/27, and for care at home a council may choose to set more generous limits, so ask your own council what it uses. How council funding works goes through both assessments and what to say at each.

The rule about the house is worth knowing in detail. While your relative lives at home and has care there, the value of that home must be left out of the financial assessment. That is the case in the Care and Support Statutory Guidance whatever the house is worth. Its value only comes into the picture if they move into a care home permanently, and even then it is ignored for the first 12 weeks, and a council can offer a deferred payment agreement so that the house does not have to be sold straight away to pay the fees.

If your relative has more than £23,250 in savings and investments, they will pay the full cost of their care until their savings fall below that line. Self-funding your care explains how that works, including when to go back to the council as the savings come down. Paying in full is not the same as being on your own: the council must still assess needs if asked, and for care at home it must arrange the care if you ask and the needs are eligible, though it can charge a fee for doing so.

1. 1

   Ask the council for a care needs assessment

   Free, whatever the savings

   Contact adult social care at your relative's council. The assessment records what help they need, and it is the starting point for any council funding, now or under any future rules. You can apply through gov.uk or by ringing the council.
2. 2

   Claim the help that ignores savings

   This month

   Attendance Allowance is paid to people over State Pension age who need help with personal care, and it does not look at savings or the house. If your relative's needs are mainly health needs, ask the GP or district nurse about NHS Continuing Healthcare.
3. 3

   Keep a record of what you pay

   From the first week

   Keep invoices, the dates and hours of care, and any assessment letters in one place. They are useful for a financial assessment when savings come down, and anyone acting under a lasting power of attorney has to keep accounts in any case.
4. 4

   Take regulated advice before big decisions

   Before selling or releasing money

   Before selling a house, releasing equity or buying a care annuity, speak to a regulated financial adviser who specialises in care fees. A solicitor is the right person for questions about gifts, trusts and ownership of the home.
5. 5

   Plan for the cost you face today

   Now

   Work out what the hours your relative needs will cost at today's rates, and do not count on a cap that has no start date. The number of hours and who provides them are the two things that move the weekly bill most.

On that last step, carers on PrimeCarers charge £18 to £25 an hour with our fee included, and agencies typically charge £28 to £35 an hour for a visit. If you are paying yourselves and want to keep your relative at home for as long as it suits them, you can search for carers near you and compare their rates. The guide to hourly care costs sets out what a week of visits adds up to, and how to privately fund care covers the ways families pay for it from income, savings and the house.

If the council does agree to fund some of the care, you can usually take it as a direct payment and choose the carer yourself rather than accept the council's provider. And if you are weighing up releasing money from the house, equity release and immediate needs annuities explains how each works and the risks to ask about.