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Haringey’s Non-Residential Charging Policy FAQs

  1. Does everyone have to pay towards their care costs?
  2. How do you decide how much people will pay?
  3. Is there a maximum charge for the cost of care?
  4. Is everyone financially assessed?
  5. What checks are in place to make sure people are honest about their financial situation?
  6. I want to have my community care charge contribution reviewed, how do I go about this?
  7. What is the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG)?
  8. What is Disability Related Expenditure (DRE)?
  9. What is the Norfolk Judgement
  10. I think my daily living costs due to my disability/impairments are more than 40%. How can I go about getting my contribution reviewed?
  11. Where can I find more information about paying contributions to my care costs?
  12. How often are contributions to care costs reviewed?
  13. Can local authorities draft policies that are more generous than the minimum requirements set out in regulations and statutory guidance?
  14. Are any services from the local authority free?
  15. What is the timeframe for this review and what are the steps to completing the review?
  16. What do the Council take account of in assessing my income? Is the mobility element of DLA/PIP included?
  17. Can I get paper copies of the policy
  18. What is Disability Action Haringey (DAH), why are they doing this on behalf of the Council?
  19. I want to talk to someone about my support/support for a relative who do I contact?

1. Does everyone have to pay towards their care costs?

  • Most people will pay at least a contribution to their care costs, but some people with a very low income will receive full financial assistance and will not have to pay.
  • Anyone with savings and assets above £23,250 is a self-funder. Self-funders can arrange their own care with the care provider; however they may request the council to arrange their care and make payments on their behalf for a fee.
  • Local authorities have powers to charge for care and support, as per the Care Act, to cover the costs they incur when contracting for care and support.

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2. How do you decide how much people will pay?

  • A financial assessment of an individual’s income and assets is completed to work out the contribution the individual will pay.
  • The amount of contribution someone will pay will take into account their pension, benefits and savings.
  • Anyone with savings and assets above £23,250 is a self-funder. Self-funders can arrange their own care with the care provider; however they may request the council to arrange their care and make payments on their behalf for a fee.

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3. Is there a maximum charge for the cost of care?

  • No, there is no maximum/ceiling on charges for care cost

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4. Is everyone financially assessed?

  • Yes, everyone assessed under the Care Act (2014) as requiring care and support needs a financial assessment of their income and assets to work out the contribution the individual will pay.
  • If you choose not to disclose your financial information you will be charged the full cost of your community-based adult care and support services
  • If I do not want to tell the council about my income what will happen?
  • If you choose not to disclose your financial information, you can still receive your care and support, however you will be charged the full cost of your community-based adult care and support services.

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5. What checks are in place to make sure people are honest about their financial situation?

  • We will ask you to provide information and evidence about your savings and any other assets you have. These could include:
    • bank/building society/Post Office accounts
    • property you own 
    • Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs), bonds or trusts
    • life assurance bonds
    • stocks and shares
    • Premium Bonds
    • cash
  • A Financial Assessment Officer will support you to complete the assessment if needed.
  • Using the information you provide we will calculate your contribution and send you a statement.

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6. I want to have my community care charge contribution reviewed, how do I go about this?

  • 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 0300 061 0614.

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7. What is the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG)?

  • This is the minimum level of income that enables people to live a dignified life as defined by the Department of Health.
  • Haringey uses Department of Health figures/thresholds. These thresholds have been frozen since 2015 and are expected to be unfrozen in April 2022.

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8. What is Disability Related Expenditure (DRE)?

  • Disability Related Expenditure are the costs that arise from having a disability or long-term health condition. You may need to spend money on things that help you manage your disability.
  • To qualify for the Disability Related Expenditure allowance you must be getting one of the following benefits:
    • Severe Disability Premium
    • Attendance Allowance
    • Disability Living Allowance (Care Component)
    • Personal Independence Payment (Daily living Component).
  • In Haringey we disregard 40% of Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment to take into account extra expenditure related to illness, age and disability.
  • If you think your expenditure is above this level, you can claim for extra expenses.

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9. What is the Norfolk Judgement

  • In the Norfolk Judgement, it was held that Norfolk Council's charging policy was unlawfully discriminatory against the "severely disabled" (i.e. the cohort of service users in receipt of disability benefits at enhanced rates).
  • The substance of the policy was to take into account for charging purposes all of the income which the authority was permitted to take into account by the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014.
  • The discrimination identified was indirect discrimination against the persons concerned, when compared with less severely disabled service users, on the footing that those who were more severely disabled were less likely to be in paid employment, and such a policy typically resulted in those without earned income losing a higher proportion of their income in charges than was the case for those with material earned income.

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10. I think my daily living costs due to my disability/Impairments more than 40%. How can I go about getting my contribution reviewed?

  • If you think your disability related expenditure (DRE) is more than the 40% disregarded, you can request an individual assessment.

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11. Where can I find more information about paying contributions to my care costs?

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12. How often are contributions to care costs reviewed?

  • We review annually each April, in line with Department for Work and Pensions benefit rates increase.
  • We also review any change of circumstances e.g. if your savings fall below the threshold

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13. Can local authorities draft policies that are more generous than the minimum requirements set out in regulations and statutory guidance?

  • Local authorities have powers to charge for care and support, as per the Care Act, to cover the costs they incur when contracting for care and support. Local authorities have discretion to have more generous charging rules than those set out in the regulations.

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14. Are any services from the local authority free?

  • Advice, advocacy and information
  • Assessment of needs and financial assessment
  • Voluntary and community advice and support services
  • Reablement for up to 6 weeks where you are eligible
  • Services provided by the NHS
  • After-care provided under s117 of the Mental Health Act
  • Equipment and adaptations, costing under £1000 when you are eligible

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15. What is the timeframe for this review and what are the steps to completing the review?

  • We hope to finalise the review once we have heard from residents via the online survey and focus groups. We anticipate this will be in early 2022.
  • The recommendations from the review will determine whether we need to make any changes to the policy and whether these changes will require statutory consultation.

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16. What do the Council take account of in assessing my income? Is the mobility element of DLA/PIP included?

  • The amount of contribution someone will pay will take into account their pension, benefits and savings.
  • An individual will always be left with the minimum level of income that enables people to live a dignified life as defined by the Department of Health, known as the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG)
  • In Haringey, we do not take into account:
    • The first 40% of Disability Benefits income (Care Component only). This is to allow for disability related expenditure (DRE)
    • The mobility element of DLA/PIP.
    • The difference between the higher and lower rate of Attendance Allowance (AA), unless night time care is being paid for by Haringey
    • The difference between the enhanced and standard rate of the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Unless night time care is being paid for by Haringey
    • The difference between the higher and middle rate of the care component of Disability Living Allowance unless night time care is being paid for by Haringey

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17. Can I get paper copies of the policy

Haringey’s policy can be downloaded and printed from the Council’s website:  Contributions for Community Care Services 2021/22 (PDF, 235KB)

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18. What is Disability Action Haringey (DAH), why are they doing this on behalf of the Council?

  • Haringey Council is committed to listening to the voice of its residents and people with lived experience of relevant topics/issues.
  • As Haringey’s pan-disability user-led organisation, Disability Action Haringey (DAH) is organising meetings on behalf of the Council to ensure your views are heard and that any recommendations made by the Council are informed by the lived experience of people and their families.

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19. I want to talk to someone about my support/support for a relative who do I contact?

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Page last updated:

December 19, 2022

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