Paying for residential care
Care home fees will vary depending on the area, the care home and your own financial circumstances.
How much does care cost?
If you pay for care privately, the cost depends on the type of care you need and the prices charged by care providers in your area. Before arranging care privately, you should check whether you're entitled to help with care costs from your local council. This depends on a care needs assessment and a financial assessment.
Privately arranged care in your own home can cost around £25 per hour, and residential care can cost around £949 a week for a place in a care home and £1,267 a week for a place in a nursing home. However, it's important to remember that these are average figures – you may pay more or less than this, depending on what local care providers charge.
This page explains where you can get more information about arranging and paying for care and getting help with care costs.
Arranging social care
A good first step is to get in touch with your local council's social services department to arrange a care needs assessment. This identifies what kind of social care would meet your needs.
Find out more about the care needs assessment
How much does home care cost?
Home care services aren't usually free. How you pay for your home care depends on lots of different factors.
Find out more about paying for home care
How much do care homes cost?
Paying for residential care can be very expensive. You may be eligible for financial help from your local council or, in some cases, from the NHS.
We're here to help
We offer support through our free Advice Line. Lines are open 8am-7pm, 365 days a year. We also have specialist advisers at over 120 local Age UKs. You can contact us on 0800 678 1602.
We work with Wordskii to offer free interpreted calls. Visit the Wordskii website and select the language you would like to take the call in from the menu at the top right of the screen. This will tell you the best number to call.