How we look at your money

In a financial assessment we look at your money to work out what you can afford to pay towards your care. This page shows how. You might also find it useful to see examples of other people’s assessments.

How it works: ignored and counted

When we look at how much money you have, there are some things we ignore and some things we count.

Ignored: you keep it

Counted: we assess it

What we look at

We’ll look at:

• all of your income (including pension and benefits)
• all of your capital (savings and investments)
• if you're a homeowner

The law says you must tell us your true financial situation or you could face legal action.

Income (earnings, pensions and benefits)

Any earnings, pensions and benefits you get are classed as income. Some types are ignored in your assessment, and some are counted.

Income you can keep back (personal expenses allowance)

You’re allowed to keep a fixed amount of your income to use as spending money, instead of using it to pay for care. This is called a personal expenses allowance.

The government decides this amount every year. From April 2024 it is set at £30.15 per week.

Capital (savings and investments)

We look at your savings and investments, such as:

• bank or building society accounts
• property 
  
• land
• national savings certificates
• premium bonds
• stocks and shares
• pre-paid funeral arrangements

Homeowners

Ignored homes

If the only property you own is the home you lived in immediately before going into a care home, the value of it will be ignored if:

• you are only temporarily in a care home
• you are permanently moving to a care home but your partner still lives in your property

Sometimes there are other reasons we may ignore the value of your home, for example if certain relatives still live there. We will talk with you about this when we assess your finances.

Ignored for first 12 weeks

Most homeowners will have to pay for care themselves. But they may have the value of their home ignored for up to the first 12 weeks of their care.

You may qualify if:

• you have less than £23,250 in savings, investments and other property
• you are permanently moving into a care home
• you have not already been paying for care privately

You should use this time to decide how to pay for your care from week 13 onwards. For example, you might want to sell your property, or delay your payment with a deferred payment agreement.

Counted homes

If your home is not ignored, we will count it at its current market value. But we will take off:

• the value of any mortgage or loans you have on it
• 10 percent of its value where there would be expenses to sell it

If you do not want to sell your home, we recommend you talk through your options with an independent financial advisor. One option is a loan called a deferred payment agreement.