Eligibility and paying for adult social care

When you have a social care assessment, we’ll tell you about services which can help you and how you can pay for them, including where you may be able to get help with funding.

The national eligibility criteria for care and support

You are eligible for care and support if all three of the statements below apply to you:

Your needs are due to a physical or mental impairment or illness.
The impairment or illness affects your ability to do two or more of the functions in the list below.
Your wellbeing is significantly affected because you can’t do these things.

Does your impairment or illness affect your ability to do two or more of these functions;

manage and maintain your nutrition
manage your personal hygiene
manage your toilet needs
make sure you’re appropriately clothed
be able to use your home safely
maintain a habitable home environment
develop and maintain family or other personal relationships
access and engage in work, training, education or volunteering
make use of facilities or services in the local community, including public transport and recreational facilities or services
carry out any caring responsibilities the adult has for a child.

If your assessment shows that you meet this criteria, we have to make sure your needs are met.

Can I get help paying for my care?

Usually, if you have more than £23,250 in savings or other investments, we’ll ask you to pay the full cost of your care and support services.

This means that you’re a 'self-funder' and you can choose to arrange your own services and support. You can find local care and support services on our My Life Warrington website.

What counts towards the £23,250?

Any money you hold in bank accounts or ISAs, any shares you own, and any cash you have. Any land or property that you own but don’t live in, and any other investments you have, also count.

The property that you live in will only be taken into account if you need to go into residential care.

If you have less than £23,250

You may still have to pay towards the cost of your care and support, but you may not have to pay for all of it. To find out whether we can help you with your care costs, we’ll do a financial assessment which looks at your income, savings and capital to work out how much you’ll need to contribute.

What is Deprivation of Capital?

Deprivation of capital is when someone knowingly reduces the value of an asset they hold for financial benefit. The law allows councils to charge for care and support services they provide or arrange (see Section 14 of the Care Act 2014), and requires councils to charge the full cost if a person has assets above the upper capital limit and is a permanent resident in a care home. Charges are means tested based on a person’s financial resources; including any income or capital they have. This means that when the council arranges care and support it will usually undertake a financial assessment, that asks people what income or capital they have. The term ‘capital’ includes things such as savings and investments, and can include the value of assets such as second homes and in the case of a permanent care home resident the house they previously lived in (although in some cases this may be disregarded).

Regulations say a council can treat someone as ‘possessing capital’ if they find that person has ‘deprived themselves’ of it, ‘for the purpose of decreasing the amount they may be liable to pay towards the cost of meeting their needs for care and support’ (Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014, Regulation 22). The value of the capital the person has deprived themselves of is called ‘notional capital’. For a council to treat someone as possessing notional capital it must therefore be satisfied both that they have: > deprived themselves of an asset, and; > have done so with the intent of reducing what they have to pay towards the cost of their care and support