Paying for social care

Most people pay something towards the social care services they use (except for advice or information, which is free). The costs will depend on your financial situation (how much you have in 'assets'). Costs are higher for some services in some parts of the country than in others. That's especially true for places in residential care homes.

Social care can cover moving into a residential care home. But how you pay for that is different to the other services. Read more about paying for a care home.

How the other social care services are paid for

After your council or Trust gives you an assessment to see what support you need, they look at your money situation. This is called a means test or financial assessment. It will decide who pays for what, and it decides this by looking at what are called your ‘assets’.

Assets are your ‘capital’. This includes savings, property, and investments like stocks and shares. Assets also include your ‘income’. Income here doesn’t include wages or salary you earn from a job. Instead it means pensions, money you get if you rent out property, and some welfare benefits.

If your council or Trust decides you need support, and then the mean tests shows you don’t have the money to pay for everything, they give you a personal budget. You pay for services from this budget. Its size depends on how much support you need and the results of your means test.

If you need to pay towards the cost of your social care services, they shouldn’t ask you to pay more than you can afford. If you disagree with how much they want you to pay, you can appeal against this means test decision.

Giving away your assets

How much you pay for social care is linked to how many assets you have. So you may be tempted to give some away. Think again. Here we explain how doing this can come with a heavy cost.  

The four UK nations have different rules about how much in capital assets you can have before you must pay towards the services you use.

What follows are the limits, country by country, as they were in early 2024. Future government plans that are mentioned here may change. So before you make any decisions, be sure you have the most up-to-date information, especially around limits for capital assets.

If your capital assets are worth:

more than £23,250 – you pay the full cost of your social care services (you are called a ‘self-funder’). From October 2025 the current government plan to make this upper limit more generous for people in England, raising it to £100,000.

under £23,250 but above £14,250 – you have to pay a share of the costs, from your capital assets and income (income here means pensions, some benefits and rent anyone pays you). In England from October 2025 the plan is your council will help with a share of the costs if your assets are worth under £100,000 but above £20,000.

under £14,250 – your council will pay for your social care services. You pay nothing from your capital assets. But you will pay what they decide you can afford from your income (such as pensions and some benefits). In October 2025 the current government’s plan is that this lower limit will go up to £20,000 in England.

A new upper limit on life-time personal care costs

For people in England, the current government plan is that, starting from October 2025, there’ll be a cap (upper limit) on how much you can be asked to spend on personal care over your lifetime. The plan is for this upper limit to be £86,000.

After you’ve paid that amount your council will pay any more costs. This £86,000 only covers what you yourself have paid, not any money paid by your council. Any costs you paid before October 2025 don’t count towards this cap. The £86,000 limit only covers personal care (help with the toilet, dressing, eating, taking medication and so on). It doesn’t cover the care home costs home that pay for your accommodation, laundry, meals, heating and lighting.

If you own your home and want care services delivered at home, the value of your home won’t be counted. That only happens if you want to move to a residential care home.

Payment for social care is similar to England. Just as in England, personal care isn’t free in Wales. The main difference from England is how much you can have in capital assets before you must pay towards your care services.

As of early 2024, if you live in Wales (but not in a care home), you pay the full cost of your care if your capital assets are worth more than £24,000. If you own your home, its value won’t be taken into account (except if you have to pay for a care home).

The changes to the limits on assets planned for England in October 2025 won’t apply to Wales.

As of early 2024, the most anyone can be charged in Wales for care in their own home and other social care services (outside of a care home) is £100 a week. This may go up in April 2023.

If your local Scottish council decides you qualify for ‘personal care’, this is free. There’s no means test to see if you need to pay towards it. Personal care covers help with getting up, washing, dressing, eating or going to the toilet.

Your council may charge for other types of care and support, like care home fees, using a day centre, or help with shopping or housework. Each council has its own charging policy and will give you a means test. This looks at the same things (assets and income) as the test in England.

How much your assets must be worth before you start to pay is different from council to council. If you own your home, its value only gets taken into account if you want to move permanently into a residential care home.

Read more about social care in Scotland and how it’s paid for.

In Northern Ireland personal care is free no matter how many capital assets you have.

Your local Health and Social Care Trust may charge you for some services that aren’t personal care. Examples are home care, shopping, housework, making beds, short breaks (respite care) and residential or nursing care. A means test will look at your money situation to decide if you need to pay towards the cost. If you own your home, its value isn’t taken into account (unless you want to move permanently into a residential care home).

Everyone who qualifies for social care gets a personal budget. This is how much money your local council or Trust thinks should be spent on social care services for you. The budget includes what they’re willing to pay, but also any contribution they think you can afford.

After they give you an assessment to see what support you need, they look at your money situation, then work out your personal budget. The budget is usually worked out on how much money is needed on a week by week basis.

You agree with your council or Trust what services you want to spend your personal budget on. You can only use this money to pay for things that meet the needs and goals written down in your care and support plan. For example, if that plan says you need to exercise, money from your personal budget can pay for gym fees.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland you may see the term ‘self-directed support’. This is their term for using your personal budget to buy the services you need.

Managing a personal budget

You have a choice about how to manage the money in your personal budget:

• Ask your council or Trust to manage it all for you
• Manage it yourself. Your council or Trust give the money to pay for a service directly to you. You then pay the service. This is called a direct payment. You can also choose someone you trust to manage the budget. This could be your partner, friend, a family member or a broker.
• Ask the organisation that gives you a service to manage your budget. Your council or Trust then pays the money to that service. This is called an Individual Service Fund (ISF).

You can choose a combination of these three options. For example, your council sends you a part of the budget to pay for some services and they arrange the others. 

If you manage your own personal budget, the money must go into a separate bank account, not your usual one. You must keep records of how you spend the money, and you can only spend it on things in your care plan.

For more information about personal budgets and direct payments contact the personal budgets helpline at Disability Rights UK or read their personal budgets factsheet. 

Read more about personal budgets and direct payments

A direct payment is one of the ways you can use money in your personal budget to pay for a social care service (as long as it’s mentioned in your care plan). With a direct payment the money comes straight to you from your personal budget, then you pass the money on to the service. If you live in a residential care home, you generally can’t use direct payments to pay for that.

Direct payments have the advantage of flexibility. They let you decide just what type of services you want. For example, if you hire a personal assistant, you tell them exactly what help you need, and when.  

You don’t have to use direct payments. You can let your council or Trust handle everything instead, or let the service you use manage things. Or you can use a mix of all three options.

Find out about direct payments for carers. 

Help with managing direct payments

Managing direct payments might seem a lot to take on. But you can get help, and you don’t have to manage all your direct payments. You can manage some yourself, and let someone else manage the rest. Or you can let someone else manage everything. That can be a friend or member of your family that you trust. It can be a personal assistant that you hire, or a broker.

What is a broker?

A broker is an independent person who gives advice, support with care plans and direct payments, and tries to solve problems with services. The cost of a broker should be covered in your personal budget. Find a broker through your council or Trust, or through disabled people’s organisations or Centres for Independent Living.

Disability Rights UK have a guide about using a broker.

Most people who move into a residential care home (or nursing home) pay some of the cost. Many have to pay all the costs. There are lots of things to think about. Will your council or Trust pay towards it? How much will you have to pay? If you own your home, will you need to sell it to pay these costs?

Read more about paying for a place in a residential care home

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, some people who need very complicated medical care might qualify for continuing health care (CHC). This is sometimes called fully-funded NHS care. This care is provided by the NHS, so you’re not charged for it.

Continuing health care doesn’t happen in a hospital but at home or in a care home. It can pay for all the costs of a care home that provides nursing. If you live in your own home, it can help with personal care like bathing, getting dressed and laundry.

CHC isn’t easy to get. The first step is for health care professionals to assess your condition. If you do get it, you’ll have a Personal Health Budget. This is money to spend on meeting what’s important to you in your ‘health and well-being needs and goals’. This includes healthcare and support such as treatments, equipment and personal care. This budget is agreed between you and your NHS team. Read more about this budget.

If you live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, find out more about NHS Continuing Health Care.

People in England can get information and advice over the phone about Continuing Healthcare from the organisation Care to to Be Different 

If your MS gets worse, and social care no longer gives you enough support, ask your social worker about continuing health care.

Scotland no longer has NHS continuing health care. It has Hospital Based Complex Clinical Care (HBCCC). Only people who need ongoing hospital based care qualify for HBCCC and you can only get this kind of care in a hospital. So it’s very different from NHS continuing health care which people in Scotland used to get at home or in a care home.

If you don’t need complicated hospital care, you’ll be discharged back to your own home, a care home or to supported accommodation. Your healthcare there is free (because the NHS provides it). Any personal care or nursing care you need is also free.

You may have to pay towards the cost of your social care services. A means test will decide this. And if you move into a care home, the means test also decides if you must pay towards the part of the care home charges that covers accommodation costs.

Find out more about Hospital Based Complex Clinical Care.