Funding your care (self-funders)

You are a self-funder if:

• you arrange your care directly with a care provider without any involvement from West Berkshire Council, and you pay the full cost of your care
• we have assessed your care needs but you are not currently eligible for support from the council, and you pay the full cost of your care

If the council arranges your care and you pay the full cost, you are a 'full cost client' and not a self-funder. You may also be charged an admin fee.

If your assets are nearly at £23,250

£23,250 is currently the upper threshold for financial support from the council. This means that you must have less than £23,250 in 'assets' for us to be able to give you financial support.

Assets can include:

• cash
• savings
• premium bonds
• stocks and shares
• funds held in bank, building society and Post Office accounts
• the value of land or property (apart from the home you live in), although some property can be disregarded

See our charges for adult social care from the council page for further information.

If you are self funding and your assets are nearly at £23,250, you can contact the council to request a care and support needs assessment. This assessment will help us work out if you are eligible for support from the council. We will also complete a financial assessment.

We suggest you contact us 3 months before your assets reach £23,250, to give us time to complete the assessments. Contact our Adult Social Care contact centre.

Below we've explained what we'll do in each assessment, depending on whether you are in a care home or get care at home:
 

If you self fund in a care home

The care and support needs assessment will look at whether your needs are still best met in a care home. If we think they are, we will talk with your care home to see if they can accept the price the council can pay to meet your needs.

If the care home does not accept this price and you would like to stay in the care home, you will need to find another way to pay the extra cost above what the council can pay. You may have a relative, friend or charity who can pay the extra cost (this is known as a third party top-up payment). If you cannot get a third party top up, we may arrange for you to move to a different care home.
 

The financial assessment will help us to calculate the date your assets will go below the upper threshold (if they have not already done so). We call this assessment a Capital Depleter assessment. If you are eligible for support, we will calculate the amount you will need to pay towards your care. We may pick up the funding from the date your assets were below the threshold, or the date you contacted us (if your assets were already below the threshold at this point).

If your assets go below £23,250 but you own a property, you may be eligible to apply for the deferred payment scheme. See our deferred payment guidance for further information.

If you self fund care at home

We will complete a care and support needs assessment. This will work out your eligible care needs. If you are eligible to have the council arrange your care, the care provider will be one of the providers on our approved provider list.

The financial assessment will help us to calculate the date your assets will go below the upper threshold (if they have not already done so). We call this assessment a Capital Depleter assessment. If you are eligible for support, we will calculate the amount you will need to pay towards your care. We may pick up the funding from the date your assets were below the threshold, or the date you contacted us (if your assets were already below the threshold at this point).

Further information

You can find further financial information for self-funders on The Society of Later Life Advisers website, or the Money Helper website.

If you find that your circumstances have changed, and you think that you need financial support to help pay for your care, please contact our Adult Social Care team.