Paying for a care home
Paying for residential care in a care home is expensive. There is some help available to meet the cost, but the care system can - unfortunately - be complicated and difficult to find your way through.
Some older people may be eligible for financial help from your local authority or, in certain circumstances, from the NHS.
Age Cymru has a wide range of factsheets on paying for care homes in Wales. These can be downloaded below:
Information on care needs assessments - to determine what your needs are and whether they are of a level where you require a care home.
Hospital discharge arrangements - useful information if someone is in hospital prior to needing to enter a care home.
A range of factsheets covering the local authority financial means test for determining if someone is eligible for help towards the overall care home fee, including the impact this can have on your choice of home. The factsheets cover various issues in regard to means testing, including how income and capital are treated (section 15 of Factsheet 10w also contains information on some non means-tested help with care home costs, for example care provided by registered nurses in nursing homes; fully funded NHS continuing healthcare, or mental health ‘after-care’ services under Section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983).
- Factsheet 10w: Paying for a permanent care home placement in Wales (PDF, 1 MB)
- Factsheet 38w: Treatment of property in the means test for permanent care home provision in Wales (PDF, 955 KB)
- Factsheet 39w: Paying for a care home in Wales if you have a partner (PDF, 872 KB)
- Factsheet 40w: Deprivation of assets in the means test for care home provision in Wales (PDF, 871 KB)
- Factsheet 60w: Choice of care home if the local authority is contributing towards your care fees (PDF, 868 KB)
NHS continuing healthcare (NHS CHC) - in some cases, people with particularly high level and complex needs can qualify for the NHS to meet the cost of their nursing home placement.
Information on temporary or short term care home placements.
For more information call Age Cymru Advice on 0300 303 44 98