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> Going into a residential care or nursing home
For more information, you should contact the social services department at your local council
There are 2 main kinds of residential care for people who cannot manage at home:
• residential care homes
• nursing homes
Nursing homes provide more constant attention or medical care. Sometimes the NHS can fund a place in a nursing home
What help is available?
If you need to live in a home and need financial help, you should first contact your local council social services department. (If you live in Scotland, your social services department may be called a social work department.)
If they decide that residential or nursing care is your best option, they will:
• help you choose the home which is best for you
• work out if you can afford to pay towards the cost of the home
• arrange to pay the fees if you cannot afford to pay them yourself.
• if you have savings of £16,000 or more, the social services department will expect you to pay the full cost.
• if they help you with the cost, you will be left with an amount of money each week towards your personal expenses such as toiletries and clothes.
• if you choose to go into a home that is more expensive than the social services department will pay, you will need to find a way to pay the difference.
Notes - changes to long-term care funding from April 2002
Important changes have been made to the following areas of long term care funding:
Preserved rights for Income Support and Minimum Income Guarantee
The Residential Allowance
Part III accommodation rates
Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance for personal care.
The changes, their background and the implementation dates are covered
in this Factsheet. There is also further information
for Care Home Owners and Associations here.