What is residential care?
Residential care is provided in a care home. The homes provide accommodation and professional help with daily tasks such as washing, dressing and eating.
Read the guide to extra care and care homes
What happens if I have property when entering residential care?
If you need to enter permanent residential care, the value of your home may be considered when calculating how much you will need to pay towards your care fees. There are exceptions, such as when a partner continues to live there or if the stay is temporary.
What if I can’t meet the full cost of my care?
When the value of your home is considered and you do not have sufficient income, assets or savings to meet the full cost of the care home fees, you may wish to sell your home in order to pay the fees. This can cause problems for people who, for whatever reason, cannot or do not wish to sell their home. If you cannot or do not wish to sell, the deferred payments scheme may help.
What is a deferred payment?
If your property is considered, the difference between what you can pay and the full cost of your care can be deferred. This deferred contribution is repaid when you sell your home or leave residential care. We will not charge you interest while payments are being deferred, although a reasonable interest rate may be levied if there is a delay when payment is due.
What happens when a deferred payment is agreed?
- You will sign a written agreement with us
- You are advised to seek independent financial advice and check your entitlement to benefits
- If your property is to remain empty, you will need to consider insurance, security and maintenance of your property
What if my chosen home costs more?
You can arrange for a family member to pay the extra or ask us to cover it and repay them after selling your property.
Am I eligible for a deferred payment?
You may be eligible if:
- you have less than £23,250 in income or savings (excluding your home)
- you do not wish to sell your home or it may take more than 12 weeks to sell and funds will not be available quickly enough to meet the costs of your care
- you have beneficial interest in the property you have been living in which is worth enough to cover your stay in residential care. If jointly owned, the joint beneficial owners agree that the property can be sold to release you share of the property
- your property is worth enough to fund the cost of your care (currently £23,250)
- there is no outstanding mortgage, or the outstanding mortgage will leave sufficient money to meet the criteria to fund the cost of your care
What if I don’t meet the criteria?
You should speak to the person carrying out your financial assessment. If your request is declined, you will receive written reasons and advice on how to appeal.
Things to consider
- a legal charge will be secured against your property giving us the right to reclaim the loan against the eventual sale
- you will need to maintain the empty property, pay for the insurance on the building and contents and pay heating bills to save the property from damp and frost
- if you rent out the property the income will be used to contribute towards your care home costs, but will reduce the amount of the loan
- by not selling the property you may not qualify for as much or any benefits which would increase the amount of the loan