See how we look at your finances and decide if you get help to pay your care home fees.
Help paying for care homes
In a financial assessment we look at your money to work out what you can afford to pay towards your care. This page shows how. You might also find it useful to see
examples of other people’s assessments.
When we look at how much money you have, there are some things we ignore and some things we count.
If we ignore something we do not expect you to use it to pay for care and we will not assess it.
If we count something it means we'll take it into account when we work out how much you can afford to pay for care.
We’ll look at:
The law says you must tell us your true financial situation or you could face legal action.
If you have any personal debt like credit cards or personal loans, we cannot take them into account.
Any earnings, pensions and benefits you get are classed as income. Some types are ignored in your assessment, and some are counted.
We will ignore things like:
We will count:
If you qualify for any of these benefits but choose not to claim them, we still have to include the money you would get if you did claim. It's important you claim the benefits you're entitled to. Check your eligibility using a
benefits calculator.
You’re allowed to keep a fixed amount of your income to use as spending money, instead of using it to pay for care. This is called a personal expenses allowance.
The government decides this amount every year. From April 2024 it is set at £30.15 per week.
We look at your savings and investments, such as:
We will ignore your savings and investments if they are £14,250 or less.
If you have more than £23,250 in capital, you will not qualify for financial help and you will need to use it to pay for your care until it goes below £23,250.
If your capital is between £14,250 and £23,250, you may still qualify for help to pay but we'll take this money into account when we work out what you can afford to pay for care.
If the only property you own is the home you lived in immediately before going into a care home, the value of it will be ignored if:
Sometimes there are other reasons we may ignore the value of your home, for example if certain relatives still live there. We will talk with you about this when we assess your finances.
Most homeowners will have to pay for care themselves. But they may have the value of their home ignored for up to the first 12 weeks of their care.
You may qualify if:
You should use this time to decide how to pay for your care from week 13 onwards. For example, you might want to sell your property, or delay your payment with a
deferred payment agreement.
If your home is not ignored, we will count it at its current market value. But we will take off:
If you do not want to sell your home, we recommend you talk through your options with an independent financial advisor. One option is a loan called a
deferred payment agreement.
The law says you must not give away your money or property, or sell it for less than it is worth, if you think you're going to have care needs. If you do, it will still be counted in your assessment.
0113 378 8559
Monday to Friday, 9am to 4:30pm
Adults Operational Services Community Care Finance
5th Floor East
Leeds City Council
Merrion House
110 Merrion Centre
Leeds
LS2 8BB