Paying for Care

Do you need care and support services?

If you, or your family member, have care and support needs and feel services are required to meet those needs, then you also need to consider how you are going to pay for that provision.

Tell us about yourself

The first thing you should do is complete an 'Adult Social Care Self Needs Assessment'.

This is where you tell us about any conditions or disabilities you have which effect your wellbeing.

Complete an Adult Self assessment here (Opens in a new window)

Hull City Council then assesses this against the criteria set out in the Care Act 2014 to determine who can be provided with support services.

If at this time you do not meet the level of need set out in the guidance, we can still let you know about services you can employ privately to provide the support you are looking for.

If you do meet the criteria for receiving council arranged care, Hull City Council can create a package of care for you.

Paying for care

Unlike the NHS where health care services are free at the point of need, Adult Social Care services are means tested. To obtain state funding you must have eligible needs (based on national criteria) as assessed by an Adult Social Care worker; but also fall below the agreed national financial thresholds. For example, the amount of financial help you are entitled to is affected by your savings, investments, benefits and earnings.

If you are paying the full cost of your care directly to the person providing your care (for example, home care agency or residential home) you are known as a 'self-funder'.

If you are self funding, it is usually because:

you do not want a social care assessment
you have chosen not to approach social care services for help
you do not want to be financially assessed
you have had a social care assessment but are not currently eligible for care and support services
you have had an assessment which shows you are eligible for support, however your savings and assets are above the threshold set by the Government

Savings and capital threshold

If you have £23,250 or more in capital, savings or assets, you will be expected to pay the full cost of your care and support services.

Under some circumstances, you may be able to get help towards your nursing home fees through NHS Continuing Healthcare, or a contribution towards the nursing costs in a care home.

More information on NHS Continuing Healthcare (Opens in a new window)

How will the council help self-funders?

You are still entitled to apply for an assessment of your care and support needs. We can look at your needs and identify services which can support you.

We can also support you with the following -

Advice, information and advocacy

Adult Services can give you comprehensive advice, information and guidance about care and support services and what is available to you.

They can also inform you of independent advocates available to help you in key processes such as assessment and care planning.

More information on advocacy here

Carer's Assessment

If you have a carer, they are entitled to request a free assessment to find out what support, information or advice they can receive from us.

More information on carers assessment here

Preventative Services

The council can point you in the direction of services in your community that may support your health and wellbeing and provide you with independence.

You can also find a directory of services on this website

Active Recovery

You may be entitled to a time limited service to get you back on your feet after a period of illness or a hospital stay.

This time limited period is funded by the NHS so you will not be charged for the first six weeks of the service, but you will need to pay for any subsequent care and support after this.

More information about Active Recovery here

Telecare

Telecare gives you support in your own home and helps you to remain independent. It is an alarm and monitoring service which allows you to call for help and assistance when needed.

More information on Telecare and Lifeline here

Equipment for day-to-day

The See and Solve Team can offer you an assessment to see if you need equipment which will make it easier for you to perform day-to-day tasks.

You can contact the See and Solve Team by completing a self assessment.

Complete a self assessment (Opens in a new window)

Or alternatively you can contact them via

email: see&solve@hullcc.gov.uk (Opens in a new window)
telephone on 01482 300 300

Care in a residential or nursing home

If you are a self-funder, residential care contracts will be between you and the residential home. However the council can help you arrange the care and provide you with important information that you need to know.

More information on Care homes

Deferred Payment Scheme

This is an arrangement with the council which will allow you to use the value of your home to pay your care home fees.

More information on Deferred Payments Scheme

Independent financial advice
To help you make decisions about your care we can help you to access financial information and advice which is impartial and independent from us.

More information on independent Financial advice here

If you are assessed as needing care in a residential or nursing home, it’s important to choose the right one. After the assessment of your needs, a financial assessment will be carried out to work out how much you can afford to contribute towards the cost of your care. The city council will then contribute the remainder up to the level of the ‘usual cost of care.’ This is a figure the city council has agreed with providers as a reasonable amount to pay for different kinds of residential and nursing care. The city council’s contribution and yours are added together to make up your personal budget.

Choosing the right care home

You can choose which care home you prefer with help from your worker, support from your family or on your own and as long as it can meet your needs, has a place and can be paid for with your personal budget we will arrange for you to move in.

What if I want to move to a more expensive care home?

If you want to move to a care home whose fees are higher than your personal budget, then someone else can agree to pay a third party contribution, also called a top up fee. Before we agree to this, we need to talk to them to make sure that you and they understand that they will be responsible for meeting the additional cost for as long as you live there, that the contribution may increase annually if the provider increases its fees and that if the third party contribution cannot be sustained, you may need to move to an alternative setting.

If everyone agrees, we will all have to make a written agreement setting out who is paying what. This is a legally binding document which is reviewed annually and will set out the full terms and conditions of the third party contribution agreement. It includes:

What your personal budget is
The additional amount to be paid
The frequency of the payments
The process of making payments
How any increases in the charges the provider makes will be paid for
What will happen if the person making the third party contribution stops paying it

Paying your own additional contribution (top up)

You can pay your own additional contribution if you own a property which is not being taken into account during your first 12 weeks as a permanent resident in a care home or if you have entered into a deferred payment agreement with us. For more information on deferred payments, please read factsheet 14 – deferred payments.

Further advice and information

If you are considering making a third party agreement, we recommend you get independent financial advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau, the Money Advice service (MA) or from an independent financial advisor.

Citizens Advice Hull & East Riding (CAB)

Citizens Advice Hull & East Riding (CAB) can help you to manage your debts, and assist with bankruptcy and Debt

You can contact them via -

telephone 01482 226 859 for specialist debt advice
telephone - 03444 111 444 for all other calls
email - e-advice@hull-eastridingcab.org.uk (Opens in a new window)

Visit their Hull Office at –

The Wilson Centre,

Alfred Gelder Street,

Hull,

HU1 2AG

The Money Advice Service

The Money Advice Service was set up by the government to offer free and impartial money advice, they can support you with -

advice and guides to help improve your finances
tools and calculators to help keep track and plan ahead
support over the phone and online

You can telephone for free and impartial money advice on free phone (from any UK landline) on 08001 387 777 Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm Saturday, 9am to 1pm except bank holidays.

Visit the Money advice service website to find out more (Opens in a new window)

If you need nursing care, whether you are self-funding or council funded, the NHS will pay the additional cost. Your nursing care home can help you apply to the local NHS for this funding.

The Paying for Care Handbook is all about paying for social care services in Hull. It tells you about the financial assessment process and explains what you will have to pay and how to do this.

You need to read this booklet if you, or someone you care for, either receives or is considering support from Hull Adult Social Care.

If you have received a formal statuary assessment from Hull City Council and as a result have eligible needs, then your support worker will make sure you have received a copy of this booklet.

Your support worker will ask you to sign the signature sheet which is at the back of the Paying for Care handbook to confirm receipt.

Your support worker will then remove the completed signature sheet from the Paying for Care handbook and will keep it as evidence for our records.

Download the Paying for Care Handbook - 2023 / 2024

The rules around who can receive financial assistance towards their care costs can seem complex and confusing.

To help you understand what your financial contribution might be towards the cost of your care, Hull City Council has developed a self-service online Paying for Care Calculator.

All you have to do is answer a few short questions about the your financial situation It should take less than 10 minutes and you'll find out whether or not you are likely to be eligible for financial assistance.

Once you have answered all the questions, the Paying for Care Calculator will work out what your financial contribution is likely to be.

Complete the Paying for Care Calculator here (Opens in a new window)

If you find it difficult to manage your own money, or find things like this confusing, we highly recommended that you get a family member, friend, or representative to help you complete Paying for Care Calculator.

Once you have completed the calculator and are shown what your maximum contribution might be, you have the option to submit those details to us, please only complete this final step of submitting those details to Hull City Council if asked to do so by our Financial Assessment Team.

What Happens Next?

If you have received a formal statutory assessment by Hull City Council, and as a result have eligible needs, then you can submit your Paying for Care Calculation to our Financial Assessment team for review.

The information you provided will be reviewed by a trained Hull City Council financial assessment officer and you may be required to provide evidence of your financial circumstances.

If you have not been assessed by Hull City Council for care and support then you can complete the Paying for care calculator and get a good idea of what you are likely to have to pay to meet your care costs, but you will not be able to submit your Paying for Care Calculation to the Council. We will first need to formally assess your needs

If you think you have eligible adult social care needs, then you need to compete the Adult Social Care Self Assessment:

Complete an Adult Social Care Self Assessment here (Opens in a new window)

Alternatively, you can contact the Hull City Council by telephone on 01482 300 300.

Important notice

The online Paying for Care Calculator provides you with an indication based on the information you provided of what your contribution to the cost of your care will be and all figures a subject to review. It does not form any agreement between you and the Hull City Council, nor does it guarantee eligibility of need for care and support.

The Deferred Payments Scheme is designed to help you if you have been assessed as having to pay the full cost of your residential care, but cannot afford to pay the full weekly charge because most of your capital is tied up in your home.

You need to have your care needs assessed and your financial eligibility determined before a Deferred Payment Agreement can be considered.

More information on the Deferred Payment Scheme

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Last updated: 2019/10/30