Paying for care and support

Your financial assessment will have taken all relevant income and expenditure into account and we make sure that you have enough to live on each week. These amounts are set by the Government each year:

• if you are moving into residential or nursing accommodation this is known as your Personal Expenditure Allowance
• if you are receiving care at home this is known as the Minimum Income Guarantee

If you are unhappy with, or have queries, about the outcome of your financial assessment, please contact our Client Finance Team who will be able to go through the assessment with you and explain how the calculation has been made.

However, if you think that you cannot afford to pay for your invoiced care charges, you should contact our Corporate Debt Team straight away to discuss this with them. They will talk with you about why you cannot pay your charge and discuss ways of helping you to meet your care charges, which could include setting up a repayment plan. They may also make a referral to the Client Finance Team as you may need a review of your financial assessment details.

What happens if I don’t pay my care and support costs or I stop making payments?

It is your responsibility to repay the Council for any charges you are assessed to pay, if you do not, we will pursue you for your debt and this may result in legal proceedings. Your credit rating may also be affected.

If you have a financial representative who is responsible for paying your assessed charge and who fails to act in your best interests, we will raise our concerns to Adult Social Care, and potentially the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), or the Police as appropriate if circumstances are sufficiently concerning.