The short answer
- The NHS pays for everything if the main need is healthNHS Continuing Healthcare is not means-tested and covers the whole package at home if the main need is health rather than daily living. Few people qualify, but the ones who do save the full cost, so ask for the checklist early.
- The council looks at savings, not the houseIn England the council contributes if savings are under £23,250 and ignores them altogether under £14,250. The home is not counted while the person lives in it. The needs assessment is free whatever the savings.
- Attendance Allowance is paid whatever you have£76.70 or £114.60 a week in 2026/27, tax free, to anyone over State Pension age who needs help with personal care. Under 66, Personal Independence Payment does the same job. Neither asks about savings.
- Most families pay some of it themselvesA week of daily visits on PrimeCarers comes to about £280 and a live-in week about £1,120, our fee included. The benefit and any council share come off that first.
Benefit rates are 2026/27 figures from gov.uk. Savings limits are England's; Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are covered below. Care prices are what families pay carers on PrimeCarers, with our fee included, September 2026.
Who could pay
The four places the money for care at home comes from
Two of the four never ask about savings, one pays for everything if the need is health, and only the last one is your own pocket. Each card shows who it is for, what it pays, and the first thing to do.
Pot 1
The NHS
Someone whose main need is health rather than daily living: care that is complex, intense or unpredictable.
What it pays
All of it
The whole package at home, including live-in care, if Continuing Healthcare is granted. Savings are never looked at.
First step
Ask the GP, district nurse or hospital discharge team for the Continuing Healthcare checklist, by name.
Pot 2
The council
Anyone with eligible care needs and savings under £23,250 in England. The home is not counted for care at home.
What it pays
A share, or all
A contribution set by the financial assessment, and the whole assessed cost when savings are under £14,250. Take it as a direct payment to choose the carer yourself.
First step
Ask adult social care for a care needs assessment. It is free, and nobody is refused one because of their savings.
Pot 3
Benefits that are not means-tested
Over State Pension age and needing help with personal care or supervision. Under 66, Personal Independence Payment does the same job.
What it pays
£76.70 or £114.60
A week, tax free, in 2026/27, paid whatever the savings and spent on anything, including a carer.
First step
Claim Attendance Allowance on gov.uk or by phone. Describe the worst days, not the best. Age UK will help with the form for free.
Pot 4
Your own money
Most families, for some of the cost, at least at first. The benefit and any council share come off the bill before you do.
What it pays
From £20 an hour
About £280 a week for an hour morning and evening on PrimeCarers, our fee included, or £1,120 a week for live-in care.
First step
Search your postcode to see what carers near you charge, and read how families fund it without selling the house.
A fifth stream goes to the family carer rather than towards the bill: Carer’s Allowance is £86.45 a week for someone caring 35 hours or more a week and earning under £204 a week after deductions. Carer’s Allowance explained.
The free steps come first. The benefit claim and the council's needs assessment cost nothing, usually take an afternoon between them, and both are worth doing before anyone works out what the family will pay. The council's financial assessment, when it comes, looks at income as well as savings, so two people with the same savings can be asked for different contributions. The band below shows the three savings levels that decide whether the council contributes at all.
Under £14,250
Savings are ignored. The council looks at income only.
£14,250 to £23,250
Savings count as £1 a week of income for every £250 above the lower limit.
Over £23,250
You pay in full until savings fall below the limit. The needs assessment is still free.
The home is not counted while the person lives in it. The financial assessment looks at income too, and must leave a single person over State Pension age at least £241.45 a week to live on.
The NHS
What the NHS pays for
The NHS funds care at home in four situations. One of them, Continuing Healthcare, pays for everything and is not means-tested. The other three are smaller or shorter, but families are rarely told about them, so they are worth knowing before you ask.
The council
How council funding works, and what your savings mean
Council help for care at home comes in two stages. First a care needs assessment, which is free and which nobody can be refused because of their savings. Then, if the needs are eligible, a financial assessment to decide how much the council pays and how much you do.
England, 2026/27: what happens at each level of savings
| Under £14,250 | £14,250 to £23,250 | Over £23,250 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Does the council contribute? | Yes. Savings are ignored; the council looks at income only. | Yes, in part. Savings count as income at £1 a week for every £250 above the lower limit. | No, until savings fall below the limit. The needs assessment is still free and still worth having. |
| Is the house counted? | No, for care at home. The home is only counted for a permanent care home place. | No, for care at home. | No, for care at home. |
| What you are left with | At least £241 a week for a single person over State Pension age, after any charge. | At least £241 a week, after any charge. | You pay the carer directly. Attendance Allowance is still paid. |
| Can you choose the carer? | Yes, by asking for a direct payment. | Yes, by asking for a direct payment. | Yes, you are arranging it yourself. |
Does the council contribute?
- Under £14,250
- Yes. Savings are ignored; the council looks at income only.
- £14,250 to £23,250
- Yes, in part. Savings count as income at £1 a week for every £250 above the lower limit.
- Over £23,250
- No, until savings fall below the limit. The needs assessment is still free and still worth having.
Is the house counted?
- Under £14,250
- No, for care at home. The home is only counted for a permanent care home place.
- £14,250 to £23,250
- No, for care at home.
- Over £23,250
- No, for care at home.
What you are left with
- Under £14,250
- At least £241 a week for a single person over State Pension age, after any charge.
- £14,250 to £23,250
- At least £241 a week, after any charge.
- Over £23,250
- You pay the carer directly. Attendance Allowance is still paid.
Can you choose the carer?
- Under £14,250
- Yes, by asking for a direct payment.
- £14,250 to £23,250
- Yes, by asking for a direct payment.
- Over £23,250
- Yes, you are arranging it yourself.
The needs assessment comes first and is free. The financial assessment only happens if the needs are eligible, and it looks at income as well as savings, so two people with the same savings can be asked for different contributions.
Once the council has agreed to fund care, you can take the money as a direct payment and choose the carer yourself, which is how many families use PrimeCarers. The council pays its share into an account, you pay the carer, and you keep simple records. If you would rather the council arranged everything, it will, but the carer will be whoever its contracted agency sends. Local authority funding and publicly funded care explained cover both routes in detail, and council funding has the assessment step by step.
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
The rules are different outside England
The routes are the same in all four nations. The numbers are not, and in two of them care at home is largely free once the need has been assessed.
Care at home, by nation
| England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Savings limit for council help | £23,250, with savings ignored under £14,250 | £24,000 | None for personal care. About £16,000 for other help, set by each council | Income and savings for under-75s only |
| What is free | The needs assessment, reablement after hospital, and care the council funds after the financial assessment | The assessment, and any council charge is capped at £100 a week | Personal care at home at any age: washing, dressing, meals, medication | Care at home from the trust for anyone over 75, or on a means-tested benefit |
| What is still charged | Your assessed contribution, and any hours beyond the council plan | Up to £100 a week, and anything you arrange yourself | Housework, shopping, day centres, and hours beyond the assessed need | Under-75s can be charged according to means |
| Who to ask | Adult social care at the council | Social services at the council | The council or health and social care partnership | The health and social care trust |
Savings limit for council help
- England
- £23,250, with savings ignored under £14,250
- Wales
- £24,000
- Scotland
- None for personal care. About £16,000 for other help, set by each council
- Northern Ireland
- Income and savings for under-75s only
What is free
- England
- The needs assessment, reablement after hospital, and care the council funds after the financial assessment
- Wales
- The assessment, and any council charge is capped at £100 a week
- Scotland
- Personal care at home at any age: washing, dressing, meals, medication
- Northern Ireland
- Care at home from the trust for anyone over 75, or on a means-tested benefit
What is still charged
- England
- Your assessed contribution, and any hours beyond the council plan
- Wales
- Up to £100 a week, and anything you arrange yourself
- Scotland
- Housework, shopping, day centres, and hours beyond the assessed need
- Northern Ireland
- Under-75s can be charged according to means
Who to ask
- England
- Adult social care at the council
- Wales
- Social services at the council
- Scotland
- The council or health and social care partnership
- Northern Ireland
- The health and social care trust
Figures verified on gov.wales, gov.scot and nidirect on 1 September 2026. Attendance Allowance, PIP and Carer's Allowance are UK-wide; Scotland pays its own versions at the same rates through Social Security Scotland.
The catch in Scotland and Northern Ireland is hours rather than money. Free personal care is free for the hours the council assesses as needed, and those hours are often fewer than a family would choose. Anything beyond the plan, and everything that is not personal care, is arranged and paid for by the family, which is where a self-employed carer comes in.
Benefits
The benefits that are paid whatever your savings
Three benefits help pay for care and none of them is means-tested. They are the first thing to claim, because they are paid on top of everything else and the money can be spent however you like, including on a carer.
- Attendance Allowance, lower rate£76.70
- Attendance Allowance, higher rate£114.60
- PIP daily living, standard£76.70
- PIP daily living, enhanced£114.60
- Carer’s Allowance, to the carer£86.45
gov.uk, checked 1 September 2026. PIP also has a mobility component on top. None of these is affected by savings or income, except that Carer's Allowance has an earnings limit.
Attendance Allowance is for people over State Pension age who have needed help with personal care, or supervision to stay safe, for six months. The lower rate is for help during the day or at night; the higher rate is for both. It is tax free, it is not means-tested, and it does not matter whether anyone is helping yet. The form asks about a typical day, and the advice from everyone who has done it is to describe the worst days rather than the best. Age UK will help fill it in for free. Getting it also unlocks other help: a carer can claim Carer's Allowance, and some people become entitled to extra Pension Credit.
Personal Independence Payment does the same job for people under State Pension age with a long-term condition or disability. Its daily living component is paid at the same two rates, and there is a mobility component of £30.30 or £80.00 a week on top. Anyone who claimed before 66 keeps it afterwards.
Carer's Allowance goes to the family member doing the caring, not towards the bill: £86.45 a week in 2026/27 for 35 hours or more of care each week, as long as the carer earns under £204 a week after tax, National Insurance and expenses, and the person they care for gets Attendance Allowance, PIP or a similar benefit. It overlaps with the State Pension, so a carer who is retired usually gets an underlying entitlement rather than the money, which can still increase Pension Credit. It can also stop a severe disability addition being paid to the person cared for, so check both sides before claiming. Carer's Allowance, what it is and how to get it goes through the claim.
Paying yourself
Paying for some or all of it yourself
Over the savings limit, or wanting more hours than the council will fund, most families pay for care from their own resources. There are more ways to do that than selling the house, and the way you buy the care changes the bill as much as the way you fund it.
After hospital
How funding works after a hospital stay
A discharge is where most families meet all of this at once, usually with a day's notice. The order below is what a good discharge looks like, and it is worth knowing so that you can ask for the steps that get missed.
- Day 0
The discharge plan
Before anyone leaves, the ward should set out what care is needed at home and who is providing it. Ask whether reablement has been arranged and whether a Continuing Healthcare checklist has been done. If the answer to either is no, ask why.
- Week 1
Reablement or intermediate care starts
Short-term therapy and care at home, arranged by the hospital or the council and free. Carers and therapists visit to help the person get back to doing things for themselves.
- Up to week 6
Free care continues while it is needed
Reablement is free for as long as it is needed, usually up to 6 weeks. Families often add private visits alongside it for the hours it does not cover, particularly evenings and weekends.
- Review
What happens next is decided
A review at the end of reablement. If help is still needed, the council does a needs assessment and then a financial assessment, or a Continuing Healthcare checklist is completed if the need is health-led. This is the point to ask for both.
- 28 days
A Continuing Healthcare decision
If the checklist passes, the full assessment and a decision should usually come within 28 days. If the NHS takes longer without good reason, it can be asked to refund care costs from the date it should have decided.
- Ongoing
Funded care, direct payments or self-funding
Council-funded care starts, as a direct payment if you asked for one, or the family continues to pay the carer it chose during reablement. Attendance Allowance should be in payment by now if it was claimed at the start.
Funding care after a hospital stay covers this in more detail, and post-operative care at home covers what the care itself looks like.
The order to do it in
Six steps, and the first four are free
Families lose money by doing this in the wrong order: paying privately for months before finding out that a benefit or the council would have paid. This is the order that costs least.
- 1
Claim the benefit that is not means-tested
Free, about an hourAttendance Allowance over State Pension age, PIP under it. Ring the helpline or download the form from gov.uk, describe the worst days, and ask Age UK to help. It is paid whatever the savings and it unlocks other help. - 2
Ask the council for a care needs assessment
Free, a few weeksAdult social care must assess anyone who appears to need care, whatever their savings. Have a family member present, answer for a bad day, and ask for a written care and support plan at the end. - 3
Ask for a Continuing Healthcare checklist if the need is health-led
FreeAsk the GP, district nurse or social worker by name. If it passes, the full assessment follows and the NHS could pay everything. If it does not, nothing is lost. - 4
Have the financial assessment, and ask for a direct payment
FreeIf the needs are eligible, the council works out its contribution from income and savings. Ask for it as a direct payment so that you can choose the carer. In England, savings under £14,250 are ignored and the house is not counted. - 5
Sort out the family carer
FreeA carer's assessment of your own needs from the council, and Carer's Allowance if you do 35 hours a week and earn under £204. Both are separate from the person you care for, and the carer's assessment can bring respite funding. - 6
Fund the rest, and choose the carer
This weekWhatever is left after the benefit and the council share is what the family pays, from income, savings or the other routes above. Search carers by postcode, read their rates and reviews, and book the week you are sure of. A direct payment or a personal health budget can pay for a carer found here.
The words you will hear
- Needs assessment
- The council’s free assessment of what help a person needs. Anyone who appears to need care is entitled to one, whatever their savings.
- Financial assessment
- The means test that follows an eligible needs assessment. It looks at income and savings, not the home, for care at home.
- Personal budget
- The amount the council decides it will spend on a person’s care, written into their care and support plan.
- Direct payment
- The personal budget paid to you rather than spent by the council, so that you can arrange the care and choose the carer yourself.
- Continuing Healthcare
- A package of care arranged and paid for entirely by the NHS for people whose main need is health. Not means-tested.
- Personal health budget
- NHS money agreed for your health needs that you control, in the way a direct payment works for council money.
- Reablement
- Short-term care and therapy at home after a hospital stay, to help someone recover. Free while it is needed, usually up to six weeks.
- Tariff income
- How the council treats savings between the two limits in England: £1 a week of assumed income for every £250.
- Top-up
- The difference between what the council will pay and what you have chosen to spend, paid by the family.
Questions
Questions families ask about care funding
There are four. The NHS, through Continuing Healthcare, personal health budgets and free reablement after a hospital stay. The council, which contributes after a needs assessment and a financial assessment, and can pay you a direct payment to choose your own carer. Benefits that are not means-tested: Attendance Allowance, Personal Independence Payment and Carer's Allowance. And paying yourself from savings, pension income, family contributions or the house. Most families use two or three of these together.
Someone whose main need is health rather than daily living: care that is complex, intense or unpredictable, and needs skilled people managing it. It is decided on assessed needs, not on a diagnosis and not on savings. A short checklist is completed first; if it passes, a full assessment by at least two professionals scores twelve areas of need, and a decision should usually come within 28 days. If it is granted, the NHS pays the whole package, including live-in care at home. NHS Continuing Healthcare explained.
In England, £23,250. Above it you pay in full; between £14,250 and £23,250 the council contributes and counts £1 a week of income for every £250 of savings above the lower figure; under £14,250 savings are ignored and only income counts. The home is not counted for care at home. Wales uses £24,000 and caps the weekly charge at £100. In Scotland personal care at home is free at any age, and in Northern Ireland care at home from the trust is free over 75.
No. The house is not counted in the financial assessment for care at home while the person lives in it. It is only counted for a permanent care home place, and even then there are disregards, for example if a partner still lives there, and deferred payment agreements so that it does not have to be sold in a hurry. How to privately fund care covers the ways to raise money without selling.
No. It is paid to anyone over State Pension age who has needed help with personal care, or supervision to stay safe, for six months, whatever their savings or income, and it is tax free. In 2026/27 it is £76.70 a week for help during the day or at night, and £114.60 for both. It can be spent on anything, including a carer, and getting it can unlock Carer's Allowance for a family member and extra Pension Credit.
Yes. That is what direct payments are for: the council pays its contribution to you and you arrange the care yourself, including choosing a self-employed carer through an introductory service like PrimeCarers. You pay the carer, keep records of what you spent, and the council checks them from time to time. The same is true of an NHS personal health budget. Publicly funded care explained.
Yes, and most families do. A typical mix is Attendance Allowance plus a council direct payment plus private top-ups for extra hours, or free reablement after hospital with private visits alongside for the evenings. The one thing you cannot mix is Continuing Healthcare with council social care funding for the same need, because if the NHS is responsible it is responsible for all of it.
Carers on PrimeCarers charge £18 to £25 an hour with our fee included, typically about £20, so an hour every morning and evening comes to about £280 a week. Live-in care starts at £1,050 a week and is typically £1,120. Agencies charge more for the same hours. The cost of care has live figures by type and by area.