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Home care services are hugely valuable for many people. Whether you are looking for additional support for yourself or a loved one to maintain your independence, require short term support following an injury or illness, or are looking for complex care for the long or short term, there are many benefits to receiving the care you need in an environment where you feel safe and comfortable.
That being said, working out how much home care will cost and what help is available can be a minefield. This article will cover the expected costs, different ways to pay and what financial help you may be entitled to.
This advice applies to Scotland only, please see here for advice on other countries in the UK. We also have advice for paying for home care in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
How much does home care cost in Scotland?
The price of home care differs depending on the type of care that you require as well as where in the country you live. On average, you should expect to pay around £23-£34 per hour. So if you were paying £25 and you needed 14 hours of care per week, you’d be paying an average of £18,200 per year.
Generally speaking, the cost of home care will increase the more complex your care needs are.
How much does live-in care cost in Scotland?
On average in the UK, you can expect to pay at least between £900 to £1,400 per week, up to around £2,000 for live-in care. Again, this can differ depending on your specific care needs and the price decided by your local home care providers.
Home care offers the benefits of staying in your own home, maintaining your independence, and continuing to live a lifestyle that suits you.
If you need help weighing up the cost of live-in care compared to living in a care home, you can read more in our article here.
Home adaptations
If you need home care, whether that’s hourly visits or live-in care, it might be necessary to make amendments to your home to ensure it’s accessible, suitable for you and your needs and to allow care professionals to deliver the care you require in a suitable environment.
To find out more about different adaptations and how to pay for this, you can read our article here.
Hospital Based Complex Clinical Care
What you are expected to pay for care at home and what you might be entitled to could be different if you’re being discharged from the hospital.
Hospital based complex clinical care (HBCCC) replaced NHS Continuing Care in June 2015 and focuses on providing an alternative to staying in hospital to receive acute treatment.
The eligibility for hospital based complex clinical care is based on one question:
Can your care needs be properly met in any setting other than a hospital?
If you have been in hospital for a while, an assessment will be carried out by a consultant or equivalent specialist (helped by the multi-disciplinary team) to decide on where the best place is to meet your needs. If this assessment deems the answer to the question to be yes, then you’ll be discharged to the most suitable setting.
This will either be:
- Your own home with support
- A care home
- Supported accommodation
If it’s decided that you are able to go home with the appropriate care in place, your local councils’ charging policies will come into force and you may be asked to pay towards the cost of your care.
As the NHS remains responsible for your nursing care and personal care is free if you have been assessed as needing it, you will only be asked to contribute to the cost of your home care if you require additional help that doesn’t fall under personal care.
How do I arrange home care funding in Scotland?
To determine how much you will contribute to your home care, it will first be necessary to work out what type of care you need. This will be done through a needs assessment which is carried out by a specially trained staff member of the council or care company. As well as looking at your health, they will also look at your lifestyle and other areas where you might need assistance. This information will be used to create a plan for your care.
Needs assessments are completely free, you just need to contact your local authority who will make the arrangements for you.
Once your needs assessment is complete, a financial assessment (also known as a means test) will usually then be carried out to determine how much you can realistically pay for your home care, or if you are required to pay at all.
If you are required to contribute towards the cost of your home care, the financial assessment will look at how much money you have. Generally speaking, the more money you have, the more you will have to pay. Because you are not moving to a care home, the price of your property will not be taken into account for the financial assessment, but it will usually take into account:
- Earnings
- Pensions
- Benefits
- Savings
In terms of capital limits, guidelines from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) recommends councils to disregard the first £10,000 of your savings if you are over State Pension age.
If you have more than £10,000, a weekly tariff income of £1 for each £500 over £10,000 is assumed. This means that if you have £14,000, you will be assessed as having an £8 weekly tariff income, for example.
If you are below State Pension age, the first £6,000 will be disregarded and the tariff income will be £1 per £250.
Councils in Scotland do have different charging policies, so you should speak to your local authority to find specific information about how much you will be expected to pay.
What help is available to pay for home care in Scotland?
Free personal and nursing care
Personal and nursing care is free to anybody living in Scotland so long as the person has been assessed as needing it through a needs assessment.
The needs assessment must be done before you agree to any home care provisions. If you start receiving home care before your assessment, then you may miss out on council funding.
Different councils in Scotland sometimes have differing rules about what counts as personal care.
Generally speaking, personal care will include:
- Help with washing, oral hygiene and getting dressed
- Help managing continence
- Assistance with eating, managing and preparing a specialist diet (such as pureeing foods)
- Help to move around indoors
- Help with simple medical treatments, for example changing dressings or applying creams
Minimum Income Guarantee
If your home care is arranged by the local authority, you will be entitled to Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG), which is an amount of money set aside (from your own income) to cover your everyday expenses.
Minimum Income Guarantee is for adults who receive care and support other than in a care home that is arranged by the local authority. Care home residents have Personal Expenses Allowance (PEA).
You may have your care arranged by the local authority if:
- You have been assessed by the local authority as needing care through a care needs assessment and as needing help with funding your care through a financial means assessment. In this case, it is their duty to arrange care for you.
- You have been assessed as lacking the mental capacity to make informed decisions.
The amount of money set aside will differ depending on your personal circumstances. To find out more, read out article here.
Different benefits available
Whether you are funding your home care yourself or are receiving funding from your local authority, you may be entitled to additional benefits to help you with everyday living costs.
These include:
- Attendance Allowance
- Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- Adult Disability Payment (replacing PIP to new applications in Scotland)
- Industrial Injuries Disablement
- Constant Attendance Allowance
- Pension Credit
- Disability Premiums
- Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
You can read more about these benefits and how to apply in our article here.
Additional help and support
Working out your budget for home care can be challenging, but there are a range of charities and organisations who can help:
- advice.scot offers impartial financial advice and information.
- Age Scotland has a helpline as well as lots of information to help make later life enjoyable and rewarding.
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