Who pays for the care home?
Six boxes, for you or for a parent. See who pays the fee each week, when the council starts to help, and what happens to the home.
Nothing you type is sent anywhere. 2026/27 figures, checked 26 October 2026.
1Where is the care home?
2Savings and investments
In England the council starts to help at £23,250. Under £14,250 isn't counted at all.
3The home
4Income a week
Once the council helps, your income goes towards the fee, but you keep £31.80 a week for yourself.
5The care home's fee
6Nursing care
Who pays each week
Now
- Your income
- £280
- Your savings
- £1,020
- Care home fee
- £1,300 a week
After a year
- Your income
- £280
- Your home's value
- £1,020
- Care home fee
- £1,300 a week
Over three years
- Weeks 1 to 12: your home isn't counted. From week 13, its value counts towards the £23,250 limit.
- For all 3 years, your own money pays, with no help from the council.
- From week 17, your home's value pays what your income and savings don't.
Paid from your home's value
This can be paid by selling the home, or the council can pay and be paid back later from it (a deferred payment). A deferred payment adds interest, up to 4.65% a year from 1 July 2026, and you can keep up to £144 a week of your income, which adds to what's owed.
Good to know
- Figures are in today's money, week by week for three years. Fees and income rise over time, roughly together.
- If the home charges more than the council's own rate, someone may have to pay the difference (a top-up).
- Money still in a pension pot isn't counted as savings, but the council can count an income from it.
- Attendance Allowance, or Pension Age Disability Payment in Scotland, stops after 4 weeks of council help. People paying their own way keep it.
- Councils count the home at its value less 10% for the costs of selling. The council's own financial assessment is the one that counts.
Finding a care home
Listings are paid, shown in random order, and are not a recommendation. We may receive a fee if you use a partner service; it doesn't change what you pay. This page gives information, not advice or recommendations.
Plan the rest of retirement too: open the calculator, which has its own care home box. Guide: Annexes and care home fees
For illustration only. This calculator lets you look at your own figures. It doesn't give financial advice. Before acting on anything here, get free, impartial guidance from Pension Wise, or speak to a regulated financial adviser.