Care Home Fees Calculator

What To Enter

Enter the quoted weekly care home fee before deducting support. If the home has separate charges for hairdressing, chiropody, activities, trips, newspapers or private therapies, keep those as top-ups or extras unless they are part of the quoted care fee. Enter resident income as the weekly amount that may be considered in the assessment, such as State Pension, private pension and relevant benefits. Some benefits or benefit parts may be ignored or treated differently, so use the authority’s schedule when a live assessment is in progress.

Capital should mean the amount used in the financial assessment, not every asset the family can list. A home may be ignored for a period or while a spouse, partner or qualifying relative lives there. Joint assets can also need a careful share calculation. If you are not sure whether the property is counted, run one version with property excluded and another with it included. The gap between those two results shows why written advice from the local authority finance team matters.

Formula And Method

For England, the default calculation uses the 2026 to 2027 lower and upper capital limits and the personal expenses allowance published by the Department of Health and Social Care. For Scotland, the default capital limits follow Care Information Scotland’s figures from 6 April 2026. For Wales, the tool reflects the single residential care capital limit and leaves the capital-tariff effect at nil by default. Northern Ireland users should confirm the current HSC Trust or Department of Health circular and replace any editable field that differs from the local assessment.

Property, 12-Week Disregards And Deferred Payments

Property rules are often the part that changes the result most. In England, the Care and Support Statutory Guidance covers property treatment, disregards and deferred payment agreements. A main home is not always counted. Common reasons for a disregard can include a spouse or partner continuing to live there, certain relatives living there, or the first 12 weeks after a move into permanent residential care. The detail depends on the facts, so the calculator asks for capital used in the assessment rather than trying to decide property law.

A deferred payment agreement can sometimes let a person delay paying part of the care home cost until a later date, often linked to property. That is a cash-flow arrangement, not free care. Fees, interest, property value, sale timing and authority rules can all matter. Use the calculator to test the weekly pressure, then ask for the authority’s written deferred payment illustration if property is involved.

NHS Funding, Nursing Care And Top-Ups

NHS Continuing Healthcare is different from ordinary local authority means-tested care. If a person is assessed as having a primary health need, the NHS may be responsible for the full package. NHS-funded nursing care is narrower: it is a weekly contribution paid to a nursing home where the person needs care from registered nurses. In England, the NHS website gives the standard weekly FNC rate from 1 April 2026. Enter that rate, or the relevant figure for the country and date, in the nursing contribution field.

Top-ups need special care. A top-up is often paid by a third party when a chosen care home costs more than the amount the authority says is needed to meet assessed needs. The top-up payer should know what they are agreeing to, how fee rises will be handled, whether the agreement can be ended and what happens if the payer can no longer afford it. Do not hide top-ups inside the care home fee. Keeping them separate makes the result clearer for the resident and the family.