Paying for your care

You will need to arrange and pay for care yourself without any financial help from the Council if:

• you don't meet the criteria for needing care or support
• you've had a care assessment, but you choose not to tell us about your finances
• you have savings above £23,250 as a single person, or £46,500 if you are a couple

If you are paying the full cost of your care, you are known as a self-funder. You can still have a Care Act assessment. We will provide you with advice and guidance on finding care and support to meet your needs, in the same way as people who receive funding. This may be in through voluntary or independent organisations.

You can search for and arrange care yourself by contacting care providers directly.

Find out more about managing your money

The video below has more information about self-funding:

Welfare benefits

As part of a financial assessment, we will provide advice about welfare benefits to make sure you’re receiving all the benefits you are entitled to.

Find out more about benefits

You can also use a benefits calculators. These can give you advice on the benefits you could be entitled to and how much your payments might be.

If your savings decrease

You should contact us if your capital decreases near to the eligibility threshold of £23,250, as you will need a new assessment. Please don’t wait for your situation to get worse before getting in touch.

If you have deliberately given away any money or property to avoid paying for care and support, this is known as Deprivation of Assets. We may treat you as still having the assets.

Find out more about the Deprivation of Assets in Social Care

Financial advice

You should always seek independent financial advice about your options for paying for your care and support needs. 

You can find more information about finances on the following resources:

• The Money Advice Service
• Society of Later Life Advisors
• Age UK