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Paying for care

Paying for care

If you live in a residential or nursing home or receive a service in your own home or at a day centre you may have to pay towards the cost.

Charges for Community Care Services

How much will I pay?

You’ll need to have an assessment in order to determine whether you are eligible for support from the Council and to find out how much you would need to contribute, if anything. But to give you some idea:

  • Your contribution towards the cost of services in the community is worked out using the Council's Fairer Contributions Policy. A copy of the policy can be found in the attached files section below:
  • If you have a low income, for example, basic Pension Credit or Income Support, you will not normally have to pay.
  • If you receive Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance you may have to pay up to £49 per week. If you have a private pension or other income you may have to pay more than this.

We disregard 65 percent of Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance to take into account extra expenditure related to age and disability. If you think your expenditure is above this level, you can claim for extra expenses.

  • Anyone with savings above £23,250 will pay the full cost of their care package

Further Guidance can be obtained from the Department of Health (external link)

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Hospital and Benefits

If you are going into hospital you should immediately notify the Department for Work and Pensions (external link) and the council office that deals with your claims for Housing and Council Tax benefit. This is important to avoid overpayments as your benefit entitlement may have to be reassessed to take account of your hospital stay.

Up to six weeks of reablement is free of charge.

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Self-funders

If you are paying the full costs of your care, you are known as a 'self-funder'. This means that either:

  • you have chosen not to approach adult social care for help, or
  • you have been assessed but you are not currently eligible for social care services, or
  • you have approached adult social care and, although your needs show that you are eligible for services, your savings are above £23,250.

More information is available on the paying for your own care page.

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Personal Budgets

We want to give local people more choice and control over the care and support they receive. This means that they can decide what they want, how it should be provided and by whom.

Personal budgets are one way we help people pay for that.

If you are eligible for publicly-funded adult social care in Haringey you will receive a personal budget. A personal budget is a clear, upfront amount of money which allows you to make informed choices about how best to meet your care needs.

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A short stay in a Residential, Nursing Home or Supported Housing

A short stay is often called respite care. Your contribution towards the cost of this service is worked out using the Council's Fairer Contributions Policy, see the attached files section below. If you receive other services in the community you will only pay one contribution.

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Living in a Residential or Nursing Home

Your contribution towards the cost of living in a residential or nursing home is worked out using the Charging for Residential Accommodation Guide from the Department of Health.

The amount you pay will take into account your pensions and welfare benefits. If you receive basic Pension Credit or Income Support you will normally pay the following minimum amount per week.

Your AgeWeekly Contribution
18-24£63.90
25-59£78.80
60+£121.50

Private pensions

If you have a private pension or other income you may have to pay more than this. You are entitled to give half of your private pension to your partner unless you both live in the same residential or nursing home.

Personal allowance

You will keep a personal allowance of £23.90 to spend as you wish. If you are over 65 you may be entitled to an increased allowance. Anyone with savings over £23,250 will pay the full cost of their residential or nursing home placement.

Your property

The value of your property will be taken into account but can be disregarded in certain circumstances, for example, if your partner continues to live there. Where the value is taken into account it will be disregarded for the first 12 weeks but you will pay a contribution based on your income and savings.

If you do not wish to sell your property straight away the Deferred Payment Scheme allows you to defer payment of part of the cost of your care until you sell your property or move out of residential care. You can decide to rent or lease your property and add the income you receive to the amount you contribute from your pensions and other income.

If you have transferred your property or capital assets before moving into a residential or nursing home in order to reduce your accommodation charge, we may decide to treat you as still possessing that asset.

Third party top-up

We are only able to pay up to a certain limit towards the cost for your residential or nursing home each week. If you choose a home which charges more than this limit someone else must pay the extra. This is known as a 'third party top-up' and must come from a third party, for example, family members, charities or friends.

A third party top-up is normally paid directly to the home in addition to any contribution from income and assets.

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Making Online Payments

You can pay your community care charges with a credit or debit card using our secure online payment service. Click on the following link for more information and to open a separate window to a secure payment site:

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What should I do if I think my contribution is wrong?

  • If you think your contribution is wrong you can ask for a review of our decision and a senior officer will look at your case. If the senior officer agrees the decision was wrong we will amend the charge and write to you. We will also write to you if we think the original decision is right
  • If you are still not satisfied you can appeal against this decision and we will arrange for a panel to hear your case
  • If you think you have not been treated fairly you can contact the Local Government Ombudsman on 0845 602 1983
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What if I need more information?

If you have any questions about contributions for community care services, please contact us at the following address:

Income Maximisation and Personal Budget Finance Service
40 Cumberland Road
Wood Green
London
N22 7SG

Tel 020 8489 0000
Email finance.assessment.team@haringey.gov.uk

The Contributions for Community Care Services leaflet (see the attached files section below) has been revised to include new capital limits, benefit rates and changes to the Fairer Contributions Policy effective from April 2013. This leaflet is not a full statement of the rules used to work out your contribution. Actual contributions are subject to financial assessment and may vary depending on your circumstances.

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Useful External Links

The following links are not part of the Haringey Council website. Please read our legal disclaimer before using these links

Attached Files

Page Last Updated: 8 April 2013

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