Care home fees information

Whether or not you have to sell your home depends on your circumstances. The information below is about the home you normally live in. If you own any other property, we will count it as capital.

If you are in respite care, we do not count the value of the home you normally live in as capital. However, we may count the value of your normal home as capital if you are going into a care home permanently.

We also ignore the value of the house you normally live in, if any of the following people live in it:

• Your partner, unless you are separated or divorced from them.
• A relative who is over 60.
• A relative under 16 who you are responsible for.
• A lone (single) parent who you are separated or divorced from.
• A relative who is incapacitated.

(By 'incapacitated' we mean someone who qualifies for a state benefit because of a medical condition or someone who has been assessed by a doctor as incapacitated but does not qualify for a state benefit.)

A relative means:

• a parent or parent-in-law;
• a son or son-in-law;
• a daughter or daughter-in-law;
• a step-parent;
• a stepson or stepdaughter;
• a brother or sister;
• a grandparent or grandchild;
• an uncle or aunt;
• a nephew or niece; or
• the partner of any of the relatives listed above.

The '12-week disregard'

If you move into a care home permanently, the care home becomes your normal home. If we are not going to ignore (disregard) the value of your house because none of the circumstances set out above apply to you, we still ignore the value of your home for the first 12 weeks. This is to allow you time to consider the options available to you for paying the costs of your care.

If you expect your stay in a care home to be respite and it then becomes permanent, we ignore the value of your home during the respite period and then for 12 weeks from the date you become a permanent resident. After this 12-week period ends, we will count the value of your home as capital, less any debt secured on it (such as a mortgage) and less the costs of selling your home.

If you sell your property within this 12-week period, you must advise us immediately as Angus Council’s funding will be reviewed from that date.

Can I put off making payments?

After the 12 week period, you can apply to us for 'deferred payments'. This means you can put off (defer) making part of your payments if you cannot (or do not want to) sell your home immediately and:

• we have assessed that your other capital is at, or less than the lower capital limit, the limit is £21,500 for 2024/25;
• you cannot meet the full cost of the payments from your income;
• you are prepared to grant a standard security (see the note below) against your home; and
• the value of your interest in your home is enough to meet our reasonable estimate of the total deferred payment; and
• we think you will still be able to pay your mortgage (if you have one) as well as any care- home fees.

If we accept your application, we will provide financial help to pay for your care-home fees, which you must agree to repay either when your house is sold, or from your estate when you die.

If you defer making part of your payments, we will still expect you to contribute an assessed amount from your income towards your care-home fees.

Note: A standard security is also known as a mortgage deed. Granting a standard security means that, when you do sell your home, the council can reclaim from you the payments you deferred.

Example

The current approved standard rate for nursing care for people 65 or over In Angus is £948.59 a week. We will pay the first £360.60 a week (using the free personal and nursing care payment). This leaves £587.99 a week to pay for your accommodation costs. You would normally have to pay this whole balance from your own income and capital. However, if you apply to defer making the payments, we work out how much we expect you to pay as follows:

First, we work out your weekly income. Your pensions and any income you receive from renting out your house is taken into account in the financial assessment. For example, if you get £161.20 a week from your State Pension and £66.88 a week from renting out your house, your income will be £228.08. We will ignore £34.50 from this amount for your personal expenses. This leaves £195.43, which we call your 'available Income'.

Weekly Income:

State and work pension: £161.20 

Plus income from rent: £66.88 

Total: £228.08

Minus £34.50 personal expenses allowance

Available income: £193.58           

We expect you to put your available income towards paying for your care home fees. So we take your available income (£193.58) from the accommodation costs (£587.99) which leaves a balance of £394.41 a week to pay (£20,509.32 a year). We will pay this for you and treat it as a debt.

Before we accept your application to defer making your care home payments, you must show us proof that you own your home and proof of any debts secured on it.

if you are acting on behalf of someone going into a care home, you must provide proof that you have full legal authority to act on their behalf.

We will treat the deferred payment as a debt and secure it on your home using a 'standard security'. You will also need to appoint a solicitor and there will be costs involved in this, which you will need to pay.

We will decide whether or not you are entitled to defer making your payments. When considering your application to defer payment, we take into account all your circumstances, including:

• your age and health:
• how long you want to defer making payments for;
• the value of your home; and
• whether there are any other debts secured on your home.

We must also take into account the funds available to us for making deferred payments. We do not charge interest on the deferred payments until you end the agreement or until 56 days after you die. We will then charge interest at a reasonable rate, which we will decide.

The free personal care and nursing-care payments we make do not count as deferred payments and we will not ask you to pay these back.

If you want to talk to us because you want to put off (defer) your payments, please phone the Financial Assessment Manager on 03452 777 778. or write to them at:

Angus Council
Revenues & Benefits Service Angus House
Sylvie Way
Orchardbank Business Park Forfar
DD8 1AN

Can I transfer the title of my house to someone else?

If you are going into a care home permanently, as part of the financial assessment we will ask you if you own (or have ever owned) the house you live in or recently lived in. 

If you previously owned a house but no longer do so, we must look at why the change of ownership happened. We must find out whether you gave away or transferred ownership of your home (or any other capital) to avoid paying the care home fees. 

We will consider each case in detail, and will get an opinion from our lawyers. For more information, please read the section '"Reducing your capital to avoid paying care-home fees"