Paying for care and support
Self Funders – paying for your own care
You are classed as a self-funder if :
- you've approached us and your needs show that you're eligible for social care support, however, your savings or assets are above £23,250
- you've chosen not to approach us for help
- you've chosen not to be financially assessed
- you've been assessed but aren't currently eligible for adult social care services
How do I know If I am eligible for Council funded care and support?
We will want to understand your Care and Support Needs, and will do this by having a Strength Based conversation or doing a Strength Based assessment with you. We will use the Care Act (2014) to help make our decision.
Or you can complete our adult social care self-assessment for yourself or on behalf of someone else (with permission from that person).
Or contact our Community Access Team on 0300 123 7034.
If you have eligible care needs, you will then need to undertake a financial means test to see if you are eligible for any funding assistance.
How do I know if I qualify for financial assistance?
Generally if you have access to savings over £23,250, you will not qualify for financial assistance and will be classed as a self-funder.
As a self-funder you can arrange your care and support with a provider of your choice and pay the provider directly.
However, if your circumstances change, or once your savings start to reduce to the upper capital threshold of £23,250, you can ask us to review the funding assistance arrangements. We call this a Funding Pick Up request.
To help give you an indication about whether you will be eligible for financial assistance when your assets fall below £23,250, you can use our Online Financial Assessment calculator.
More information and instructions about the Online Financial Assessment tool and how to use it can be found on our Financial assessment calculator page.
What should I do to help make my savings last?
You should consult an independent financial adviser who can give you professional independent advice on financial matters. The adviser can talk to you about your money and the financial products and services they think can help you get more for your cash. For example, an independent financial adviser can:
- recommend ways to protect your money
- reduce your risk of running out of money
- help protect your capital, such as your savings
- review your assets, such as your property and personal goods, to see if you can boost your income
- make sure you are receiving all of the benefits to which you are entitled
You should get advice from an independent financial adviser who is an expert in long-term care funding advice. Your independent financial adviser must also be controlled, or regulated, by the Financial Conduct Authority.
What can I do if my savings are running low?
We appreciate this can be a difficult, anxious and confusing time for you – hopefully this information will help.
We have also provided a helpful leaflet and a video guide produced by the University of Birmingham, and available on You Tube:
If your savings are running low you can use our handy calculator to give you an idea how long your savings might last based on the current cost of your existing care package. This is only an indicative timescale.
Please note this will only be an estimate, and in order to undertake the relevant eligibility checks we ask that you contact us around 12 weeks before you expect your savings to fall below £23,250. We will then undertake the Strength Based care needs and financial assessments and will let you know if you will qualify for funding assistance with your care costs.
Further information
We will only provide funding assistance (if you qualify) from the date you made contact with us - even if your savings dropped to £23,250 before that date.
We will backdate funding assistance to the date you made the application however, it may not be at the rate that you are currently paying.
We will do our best to keep you in the care home you currently reside in and will discuss this with the care home provider and yourself. If this is unaffordable for us, and you are unlikely to be able to stay in the same care home, we need to consider other more affordable alternative arrangements.
If you wish to remain with your chosen care provider, you will need to find someone to pay the difference from their own resources, this is known as a Top Up fee.
You need to consider that if you can’t make up the shortfall in some way, you might have to move to a cheaper care provider or care home that sits within your personal budget. However, please be assured that we will work with you to ensure that your care and support needs are met.
You can stay in a more expensive home if somebody is willing to pay the shortfall between our funded rate and what the care home charges. This could be a relative, friend or even a charity.
They will sign a contract, so it’s important that they can afford, and are willing, to pay the top-up fee on an ongoing basis. It’s also important to take into account that the care home’s fees may increase, or that the person paying the top-up fee may have a change in circumstances, such as having another child or being unable to work due to ill health, that will hinder their ability to pay. We will need to check that the top-up is affordable. You may wish to consider moving to a less expensive care home to lessen the top-up fee.
You will find further information about Top Up fees on our webpages.
In assessing if you are eligible for any financial assistance from us towards the cost of your care, the financial assessment means test will look at your capital and/or savings, we must apply the upper and lower capital limits to these. The upper capital limit is currently set at £23,250 and the lower capital limit at £14,250. These limits are set by the Government.
If you do qualify for financial assistance, we will write to you with a breakdown of how your financial assessment has been calculated. The letter explains how much money you have to pay towards the cost of your care home fees and what you need to do. We call the amount you pay your assessed charge.
To help give you an indication about whether you will be eligible for financial assistance when your assets fall below £23,250, you can use our Online Financial Assessment calculator.
More information and instructions about the Online Financial Assessment tool and how to use it can be found on our Financial assessment calculator page.
We cannot confirm the exact amount you will pay until we complete a full financial assessment for your care and support. However, you can use the estimated cost to help you plan your finances.
We will only complete a full financial assessment for you once you have started to receive our care services.
More information and instructions about the Online Financial Assessment tool and how to use it can be found on our Financial assessment calculator page.
