Care Home Fees Calculator UK

How the Care Home Fees Calculator Works

Enter type of care needed, your region, person’s savings, assets and income. The calculator estimates likely weekly fee for your area, then runs means test rules for your UK nation to show how cost splits between the individual and the local authority.

Current averages give scale of numbers, residential care runs around £1,300 per week and nursing care around £1,500, which puts a year of self funded care between roughly £67,000 and £79,000. London and the South East sit 20 to 30 percent above these figures while the North of England sits below them.

The Means Test Thresholds Explained

Whether council contributes depends on capital, meaning savings, investments and often property. The thresholds differ by nation:

• England and Northern Ireland: above £23,250 you self fund in full. Below £14,250 capital is ignored and only income is assessed
• Between the two English thresholds, tariff income applies at £1 per week for every £250 of capital above £14,250
• Scotland: upper threshold of £35,000, plus free personal care contributions regardless of wealth
• Wales: a single more generous threshold of £50,000

The English thresholds have been frozen since 2010, which quietly pulls more people into full self funding each year as savings and house prices rise. The previously planned £86,000 lifetime cap on care costs was scrapped in July 2024, so no cap currently applies.

Anyone council funded keeps a Personal Expenses Allowance from their income, set at £31.80 per week in England for 2026/27.

Does the House Have to Be Sold

Not always and this is question families worry about most. The property is permanently disregarded from means test while a spouse or civil partner still lives there and disregards also apply for certain dependent or older relatives in residence.

Where property does count, two protections soften the timing. The first 12 weeks of permanent care come with a property disregard, giving breathing space to arrange finances. After that a Deferred Payment Agreement lets the council pay the fees and place a charge against property, recovering the money when it is eventually sold, with interest currently around 4.75 percent. Renting property out to cover fees is another route some families take.

One caution, giving away assets to get under thresholds is treated as deliberate deprivation of assets. There is no time limit on how far back a council can look and gifted assets can be assessed as if still owned, leaving someone liable for fees they no longer have money to pay.

When the NHS Pays Instead

Two NHS routes can change picture entirely. NHS Continuing Healthcare covers full cost of care, without any means test, where the person’s primary need is a health need rather than a social care one. Eligibility is assessed through a national framework and is hard to secure, but initial checklist screening is free and worth requesting before signing any self funding contract, especially where needs are complex.

Separately, NHS Funded Nursing Care pays a flat weekly contribution direct to nursing homes for anyone needing care from a registered nurse, regardless of finances.

Getting the Assessments Done

The process starts with a needs assessment from council’s adult social services, which is free and available to anyone, followed by the financial assessment. If a self funder’s savings are heading towards threshold, ask the council to assess before crossing it, because once council funded home is bound to accept council rate for that bed. Self funders typically pay £200 or more per week above council commissioned rate for same room, so it is always worth asking a home for both rates in writing.

Care funding decisions interact with property, tax and inheritance in complicated ways, so for significant sums a specialist later life financial adviser accredited by SOLLA is a worthwhile step. This page is general information rather than personal financial advice.