Council and democracy

Paying for Residential and Nursing Home Care

Most people have to pay towards the cost of residential or nursing home care, but there are some exceptions:

• if you have intensive medical or nursing needs, your stay in a nursing home may be fully paid for by the NHS.
• if you are in a residential or nursing home following a compulsory stay in a mental health hospital.
• if you need a short stay in a nursing or residential home to recover from an illness or to prevent you from going into hospital.

In other circumstances, if you have sufficient income or capital, you will pay the full cost of your residential or nursing home care. You may qualify for financial help towards the cost if the county council agrees you need this type of care and your income or capital is below a certain level.
For details of benefits and how they may be affected, select the link called Paying for care home fees (on the right of this page).