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- Your financial assessment: how capital is assessed
How the financial assessment works
When deciding how much you can afford to pay towards your care home fees your Local Authority will look at your income and your capital (including property, savings or investments). The amount of capital you have will affect how the Local Authority calculates your entitlements and whether you qualify for help at all.
This guide will help you understand how your capital may affect this financial assessment.
Capital and your financial assessment
If your capital is above the maximum limit, you’ll have to pay for the cost of your care. Capital below the minimum limit doesn’t count in the assessment.
In England and Scotland, if your capital falls between the upper and lower limits, then your capital is calculated as giving you an income of £1 per week for every £250 of capital.
This income is included in your Local Authority’s calculations when they work out your entitlement to assistance.
In Wales there is just an upper limit. Any capital below that level isn’t counted in the assessment.
The table below shows the upper and lower limits in England, Scotland and Wales**.
| England | Scotland | Wales | How your capital affects your financial assessment | |
| Upper limit |
£23,250 |
£24,750 | £22,000 | You’ll have to pay for the cost of your care |
| Lower limit | £14,250 | £15,250 | £22,000 | Capital below this level doesn’t count in the assessment |
Whatever your capital, if your weekly income is more than the total of your care home fees plus £23.50* (£24* if you live in Wales), you’ll have to pay the full cost of care yourself.
* Figures correct as of April 2012
** Bupa doesn’t have care homes in Northern Ireland, so we haven’t shown figures for this region
Your home and your financial assessment
If you move into a care home permanently, your Local Authority may count your home as capital from 12 weeks after you move in. This is in case you are only staying in a care home temporarily, or to give you time to sell your home. However, your home won't be counted as capital if any of the following people still live there:
- your husband, wife, civil partner or someone you live with as a partner
- a close relative who is aged 60 or over, or incapacitated
- a child (including adopted children) under 18
- an ex-husband, ex-wife, ex-civil partner or ex-partner, if they are a single parent
Jointly owned capital
Only capital and income in your name counts when it comes to your financial assessment. Joint savings and capital are assumed to be equally shared between the owners, so only half will count as yours.
If you and your partner are both moving into a home, you’ll be assessed individually. This means the capital limits in the table above apply to each of you separately – not both together.
Giving your capital away
You can’t give away assets, such as savings or your home, or sell them at less than their true value so you can qualify for financial assistance. This is called ‘deliberate deprivation’ and will still be included in your assessment.
If assets were given away within the six months before you moved into care, your Local Authority can recover the cost of your stay from whoever received the asset.
If the transfer happened at any time previous to the six months before you moved into care (there’s no time limit), your Local Authority may assess you as if you still own the assets.
This means it’s advisable to get professional, independent advice before changing your financial arrangements, so there’s no risk of you appearing to give away your assets.
Important note: The information in this article is for general information only and should not be taken as financial advice. And although we’ve taken every care to make it accurate we can’t accept any liability for errors or omissions.
Help and guidance
We’re experts and we’re here to help you.
For help and guidance on aged care advice, call our contact centre at any time (we’re here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) on 0800 011 44 04 or fill in our contact form.
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