Paying for residential care
If you’re unable to live independently in your own home, even with extra support, you may need to consider residential care. There are residential care homes across Lincolnshire which will meet different care and living needs.
If you move to a registered nursing home and need nursing care, the NHS will contribute to some of the care cost.
You might need to move to a residential care home for a short period of time – we call this temporary residential care – which is any stay in residential care up to 52 weeks, where you intend to return to your home.
How will I be financially assessed?
Following your care needs assessment, you will be asked to fill out an online form or you can request a paper form if you prefer. This will ask for details of your income and expenditure, so our financial assessment team can work out how much financial assistance you will get from the council to pay for the residential care. Your social worker will explain and support you during this process.
How much will I have to pay?
If you have over £23,250 in savings and investments, you are likely to have to pay the full cost of your residential care.
For charging purposes, the two types of residential care home stays are:
- temporary
- permanent
Care home fees are made up of:
- costs for accommodation, laundry, meals, heating and lighting
- care and support costs (residential care, nursing care, dementia care)
If you have to live in a registered nursing home and need nursing care, the NHS will contribute towards the cost of your care.
When being financially assessed for a temporary stay, the value of your main or only home is not included in the calculations, as the intention is that you will return home. You will be allowed additional expenses to maintain your home during your temporary residential care stay.
Do I have choice over the costs of my care?
As part of your care planning, we will discuss the type of accommodation that will meet your needs. We will make sure that at least one option is available to you which is affordable within your budget.
Where you have been assessed as requiring a certain type of accommodation (care home, supported living, and shared lives accommodation) you have the right to exercise choice between providers in certain circumstances. This includes anyone who is receiving aftercare services under the Mental Health Act 1983.
If you choose a care home that charges above our expected costs, then a top-up may be payable. This is the difference between our expected costs and the actual cost of the home. A "first party" top-up is when you pay the top-up fee yourself. A "third party" top-up is when someone else pays your top-up fee for you.
Will my home count as part of the financial assessment?
If you are moving into a care home on a permanent basis, the value of your home will be taken into account, unless any of the following apply:
- your husband, wife, partner or former partner continues to live there, except where they were estranged since before you went into a care home
- a relative aged 60 or over continues to live there
- a lone parent who is the person's estranged or divorced partner continues to live there
- a relative under 60 who is incapacitated, and receives certain disability allowances continues to live there
- a child under 18 for whom you are financially responsible continues to live there.
To make sure you have enough time to make the right decision about moving into a residential care home, we can allow up to 12 weeks at the start of care where the value of your home is not taken into account. This is called a 12 week property disregard.
Personal Expense Allowance (PEA)
Before any charges are made towards the cost of your care home, we need to ensure you are left with a minimum amount of income. This is known as the Personal Expense Allowance (PEA) and is set nationally each year by the Department of Health and Social Care. It is reproduced in our Annual Statement of Charges which you can find in the appendices of the charging policy on our website. This is to ensure that you have money to spend as you wish on personal items such as clothes and other items that are not part of your care.