Financial assessments

Find out how your council decides how much it will pay towards your care.

Councils only have a limited amount of money, and may choose to pay for only those people who are in most need of help.

Depending on where you live, if your needs are assessed as low or moderate, you may not be entitled to the free care that is available.

If your needs do match the level set by your council, the council will carry out a financial assessment.

Depending on your income, savings or assets, such as your home, you may have to pay for some or all of your care.

Your local council should have information leaflets about their charging policies and the processes they follow.

• Read the government guidelines on how much you can have in savings or assets before you will be asked to pay for your care, from the Help the Aged website

About your property

Home care

For non-residential services (such as home care) the value of your home will not be taken into account when working out your charges.

Care homes

For residential services (such as care homes), the council may ignore the value of your home if your husband, wife or partner is still living there.

They may also be able to ignore the value of your home for up to 12 weeks, and may be able to offer you a loan to give you time to decide what to do with your property.

Next steps

Get independent advice: you may find it useful to get some independent financial advice before deciding how to manage your money.