If you are no longer able to live at home independently and think you may need residential or nursing care you should contact adult services for an assessment of your needs. Adult services may be able to help pay your care home fees. How much we are able to pay depends on your financial circumstances.
The information below tells you how much you may be asked to pay and gives you an idea of some of the limits on what adult services can pay for care.
You may also want to get independent advice and information about paying for a care home. You will find more information on these web sites:
Age Concern
Help the Aged
Counsel and Care
DirectGov
Newcastle Adult Services follows guidance given to us by the Department of Health which tells us how we should decide how much people pay towards their care home fees.
Your income
Your assets
What choice do I have if I need residential or nursing care?
What is the ‘standard’ or ‘usual’ price?
What is a third-party top up?
When might Adult Services ask me to find a third-party top up?
What if I have previously funded myself and then need to be publicly funded?
What if the person paying the third-party top up is unable to carry on paying?
What happens if I need public funding and I want to move to a home outside Newcastle?
If you need help paying for your care home we will ask you for information about your financial circumstances. We look at your income and your assets together and work out how much you can realistically afford to pay.
Your assets are the money you have in the bank, shares and other investments, and your house:
We may disregard the value of your main residence for assessment purposes for a maximum of 12 weeks. If you own your own home or other properties it is important that you ask for more information about how this will affect how much you pay as soon as possible.
The amounts above are to be implemented from 6 April 2009. It is reviewed every year, we will let you know of any changes when we assess how much you need to pay.
If you choose a care home that is more expensive than our standard or 'usual' price you must find someone else to pay the difference. You are not allowed to pay the difference yourself. This is called a 'third-party top up'. We explain more about our usual price and third-party top up below.
If you have high levels of need and a residential or nursing home is best for you, it is likely Adult Services already know you. We will have assessed your care needs and recommended that a residential setting is the best place to meet your needs.
If this is the case, you can pick which home you move in to with two conditions.
1. The home must be able to meet your assessed needs.
2. The home must not charge more than the ‘usual’ price the City Council would normally pay, unless you can find a third-party top up.
Each year Newcastle City Council sets the ‘standard’ or ‘usual’ price. This will be the full cost paid to the care home.
It will include your assessed financial contribution, and any benefits from the Department of Work and Pensions you have a right to.
It will always cover all of your assessed needs and sufficient homes in Newcastle will offer care at the council's usual price.
We will pay the difference between your assessed financial contribution and the usual price.
This means that you should be able to go to the home of your choice, without having to find a third-party top up.
A third-party is someone who will agree to pay the difference between what the home charges and the usual price the council is able to pay.
Anyone who agrees to be a third-party for you will sign the contract together will you, someone from adult services, and a representative of the home saying who is responsible for paying each amount.
Government guidance says that residents in care homes cannot top up their own contributions if the local authority is paying towards their funding.
You may need to find a third-party top up if you choose a home which is above the council's usual price or if you choose a home offering more than you need for your assessed care needs. For example, some homes charge more for large rooms or private bathrooms.
If you are a ‘self-funder’ and you know your money is going to fall to £23,000, you may have a right to City Council funding.
If this is the case, Adult Services will assess your needs before we consider funding.
There are rules about how much we will ask you to contribute from your income and savings.
If you are entitled to public funding it will only be within the usual price range.
If you have been paying the home for a bigger room or private bathroom, you will only be able to keep these extras if you can continue to find a third-party top up.
If this happens you may have to change rooms or in exceptional circumstances move to another home.
The City Council can not pay above the usual price unless there is no other care home that can meet your assessed needs.
We will do everything we can to make sure that you do not have to move to a different home.
Government guidance says that residents in homes can not top up their own contributions when they are being paid for by the local authority.
Adult Services may ask you to move into a room in the home within the usual price range if:
In exceptional circumstances you may need to move out of your home if it does not offer any beds at the usual price.
This would be agreed if the home you choose can meet your assessed needs and the social worker agrees with the reasons for you wanting to move to another area. For example to be nearer relatives. In these circumstances we would meet the cost which is agreed with the council in that area.
Page last updated: 16 August, 2011
