How do you pay for respite care?

None of these routes rules the others out. A carer's assessment can be working its way through the council while you book a fortnight of cover yourself, and Attendance Allowance already in payment goes towards the bill either way. Respite care covers what a break involves from the beginning, what is respite care? sets out the kinds of break and what each one costs, and the different types of care funding puts these routes next to the funding for ongoing care.

The test in the Care and Support (Eligibility Criteria) Regulations 2015 has three parts. The needs have to come from providing necessary care, at least one of the points above has to apply, and there has to be a significant impact on your wellbeing. If all three are met the council has a duty to meet those needs, and one of the ways it meets them is replacement care so that you can have a break.

Ask by ringing your council's adult social care team, or through the form on its website. The assessment is free. It is usually a long conversation about how caring is going, at your home or over the phone, and it helps to write down beforehand what a bad week looks like rather than a good one. What is a carer's assessment? walks through what happens in one, local authority funding explains the money that can follow it, and the NHS page on carer's assessments lists the kinds of support one can lead to.

Ask for an assessment of your relative at the same time. The council can arrange replacement care as a way of meeting your needs as a carer or as a way of meeting theirs, and having both assessments on file avoids a wait while one catches up with the other.

Your relative's agreement is worth planning around. Your relative has a say in who comes into the house while you are away, and springing it on them the week before is how a break falls apart. Raising it early, and letting them meet whoever is covering, tends to matter more than which route paid for it.

If the financial assessment does come out with a contribution, council funding explains how the bands work and what is counted, including the rule that your relative's home is never counted while they are living in it.

The four week rule is easy to miss when you are planning a longer break. Stays less than four weeks apart are added together and counted as one, so two fortnights three weeks apart use up the allowance for the year. Stays at least four weeks apart are counted separately, which means a week in a care home every six weeks never reaches the limit at all. None of that applies to a carer coming to the house: a direct payment can pay for care at home for as long as the care plan says it is needed.

You can ask for a direct payment at the assessment, or later, and you can change your mind and hand it back. The council has to give you information and support to manage one. Direct payments on gov.uk has the council-by-council starting point, and if you would rather see what the money buys before you commit, you can search for carers near you and compare their rates by postcode.

NHS Continuing Healthcare explains the checklist, the full assessment and what to do if the answer is no. If the break you need is in the weeks after your relative comes out of hospital, funding care after a hospital stay covers what is available for that period specifically, and when to consider respite care explains why a discharge is a moment worth acting on.

Carer's Allowance does not stop for a short break. Gov.uk says you can still be paid while you temporarily stop caring, and it asks you to tell the Department for Work and Pensions if you stop for more than 28 days for most reasons, or if you or your relative will be in hospital, a nursing home or respite care for more than twelve weeks. Ring the Carer's Allowance Unit before a long break rather than after it, and keep a note of the dates.

Attendance Allowance is the one that pays towards the cover directly. At the higher rate it is roughly 5 hours of a carer's time a week at what carers on PrimeCarers typically charge, and it is not means tested, so savings and a pension do not stop it. It is worth claiming well before you need a break, because a claim takes weeks to decide. Attendance Allowance covers who qualifies and how to fill the form in, and Carer's Allowance explained covers the benefit paid to you, including what it can do to other benefits in the household.

Ask early. Funds have their own timetables, and some pay a provider rather than paying you, which takes longer than booking a carer. It is worth asking your council whether it runs a carers' grant of its own, since the amount and the rules are set locally.

1. 1

   Ask the council for a carer's assessment

   Today, free

   Ring adult social care, say you are an unpaid carer and ask for a carer's assessment under the Care Act 2014. Ask for an assessment of your relative in the same call. Neither depends on your income. What is a carer's assessment? covers what happens next.
2. 2

   Check what your relative is already entitled to

   This week, free

   Attendance Allowance if they are over State Pension age and need help with personal care, and NHS Continuing Healthcare if the main need is a health need. Both are decided on need rather than savings. The different types of care funding sets them side by side.
3. 3

   Say you want a direct payment

   At the assessment, free

   If the council agrees to fund anything, ask for it as a direct payment so you can choose who covers rather than taking whoever is allocated. You can ask later instead, and you can hand it back.
4. 4

   Look at carers near you while you wait

   From £18 an hour

   Assessments take weeks and a break booked directly usually takes days. Search carers by postcode and you will see rates, experience, reviews and availability. Every carer has had an identity check, a right to work check, an enhanced DBS check on the Update Service and an online interview with us, and carers are insured while they work. References sit on the profile, and it is worth asking each carer about their skills and training yourself.
5. 5

   Write down what whoever covers needs to know

   Before you go

   Medication and times, the GP and district nurse numbers, what a difficult day looks like and what helps, and who to ring if you cannot be reached. A page of this matters more to your relative than which route paid the bill.