Guide · rules for England, checked 2 October 2026
Care fees: who pays, and when the house counts
Most people believe the house is taken straight away. It is not.
Run the free check for your house: will it have to be sold to pay for care?
1. The council assesses the need first
- The council’s help starts with a needs assessment, which is free and which anyone can ask for.
- People paying their own way can arrange care without one, but it is still worth having.
- If the main need is a health need, NHS continuing healthcare pays the whole cost with no means test.
- In a nursing home the NHS pays £267.68 a week towards the nursing part whoever is funding the rest.
2. The home is ignored for 12 weeks, and often for good
For the first 12 weeks of permanent care the value of the home is ignored, if savings apart from the home are below the limit. It stays ignored for as long as any of these people live there and have done since before the move into care:
- a husband, wife or partner (unless estranged)
- a relative aged 60 or over
- a relative who is incapacitated
- their own child under 18.
Who counts, with worked examples.
3. Savings are counted against two limits
| Savings and investments (not the home) | Who pays |
|---|---|
| More than £23,250 | You pay the full fee yourself |
| £14,250 to £23,250 | The council pays; you contribute £1 a week for every £250 above £14,250, plus most of your income |
| Under £14,250 | Only your income counts, and you keep a personal expenses allowance of £31.80 a week |
The limits in Scotland and Wales
Scotland’s limits are £22,750 and £36,750, and the council pays £260.30 a week towards personal care whoever pays the rest.
Wales has a single limit of £50,000, and residents keep at least £46.35 a week of their income.
4. When the home does count, it does not have to be sold
If nobody in the list above lives there, the home counts after 12 weeks.
- If savings apart from the home are £23,250 or less, the council must then offer a deferred payment agreement.
- Two conditions: any co-owner agrees, and the council can be first in line on the house (a mortgage or equity release can stop that).
- The council pays the fees and takes the money back, with interest and fees, from the sale of the house later, usually after death.
- You can also let the house to cover part of the cost.
What a deferred payment costs: interest and fees
Interest can be charged at up to 4.65% a year from 1 July to 31 December 2026 (the cap is reset every January and July), compounding.
Councils add fees on top: for example from about £200 to over £800 to set up and about £100 to £300 a year.
How deferred payments work, with a worked example.
5. What it costs
People paying their own way in England pay about £1,302 a week on average for a residential home, and £1,558 for nursing care.
Average fees in Scotland and Wales
- Scotland: about £1,539 a week for a residential home, and £1,646 for nursing care.
- Wales: about £1,156 a week for a residential home, and £1,394 for nursing care.
Councils in England paid on average about £908 a week for a residential home and £1,225 for nursing in 2024-25. So a home that charges more needs a top-up from family once the council is paying.
6. What genuinely helps
- Ask for a continuing healthcare assessment if there is a serious health need.
- Set up both lasting powers of attorney so someone can deal with the council and the bank.
- Know the numbers before a crisis. About half of care home enquiries are for care needed within a month.
Couples: ask a solicitor about this. How it works.
- Own the house as tenants in common, so each of you owns a half you can leave by will.
- Each will leaves that half in a life-interest trust: the survivor can stay for life, then it goes to the children.
- If the survivor later needs care, only their own half is counted, not the half in the trust.
The survivor’s own half, and inheritance tax
The survivor’s own half is valued at what a buyer would pay for a share of a house, which can be well below half its value. The residence nil-rate band is usually kept.
Sources: Care and Support Statutory Guidance; DHSC charging circular 2026-27; Age UK factsheets 38 and 40 (2026); NHS funded nursing care rate 2026-27; council deferred payment pages (2026); carehome.co.uk care home fees (data collected June and September 2025); LaingBuisson council rates (2024-25); carehome.co.uk Ageing Britain report (Jan 2026); Association of Lifetime Lawyers survey (Sep 2025).