A home care assessment is a visit to the person's own home to work out, together, what support would help. The assessor listens to what a typical day looks like, asks about health, medication, mobility and the home itself, and then builds a care plan and an exact written quote. With Aims Homecare the assessment is free, and there is no obligation to go ahead.
Most families arrange their first assessment during a difficult week, after a fall, a hospital stay, or the slow realisation that things are no longer manageable. It helps to know that the visit itself is calm, unhurried and mostly conversation. Nothing is decided for you, nothing is signed on the day unless you want it to be, and the person the care is for stays at the centre of every decision.
This guide explains the whole process from the first phone call to the first care visit: what you will be asked, what the assessor looks at, how the care plan is built, what it all costs, and the funding help many Surrey families never claim. It also covers the situations where a home care assessment is not the right first step, because knowing that is part of being safe.
When is a home care assessment the right step?
An assessment is the right step whenever daily life at home has become harder than it should be and you want to understand the options. You do not need to know what kind of care is needed before you call, working that out is what the assessment is for.
Common starting points include help with washing and dressing, medication that is being missed or muddled, meals that are being skipped, a home that is becoming harder to keep on top of, worry about someone being alone at night, a family carer who is exhausted, or a hospital discharge team saying support must be in place before someone can come home.
An assessment is also the right step when you are comparing home care services or simply weighing options, for example comparing home care against a care home, or wondering whether a couple of visits a week would be enough. A good assessment will tell you honestly if you need less care than you feared, or a different kind of support altogether.
When is home care not the right first step?
Home care is planned, non-emergency support. It is not a substitute for urgent medical help, and an assessment should never delay it.
Call 999 when someone may have a life-threatening emergency: signs of stroke (face drooping, new one-sided weakness, slurred speech), severe chest pain, serious breathing difficulty, a fall with a suspected broken hip, heavy bleeding, or someone who cannot be woken.
Use NHS 111, or contact the GP the same day, for urgent concerns that are not immediately life-threatening, including sudden confusion or a marked change in someone's usual behaviour, which in older people often has a treatable physical cause and should always be checked rather than put down to age.
If you are worried that an adult is being harmed, neglected or taken advantage of, contact Surrey County Council's adult social care team on 0300 200 1005 and ask for safeguarding, or call 999 if someone is in immediate danger.
Once the urgent situation is handled, an assessment is often exactly the right next step, hospital discharge is one of the most common routes into home care, and assessments can be arranged before or straight after discharge.
What happens when you first contact Aims?
The process starts with a phone call to 01372 386222 or a message through the contact page. You do not need paperwork to hand, and you do not need the person's permission to simply ask questions, many first calls are an adult child finding out what is possible before raising it with a parent.
You will be asked roughly where in Surrey the person lives, what is prompting the call, and what kind of help you think might be needed, even a rough idea is enough. If there is a deadline, such as a discharge date, say so at the start: care can usually begin within 24 to 48 hours of the assessment, and short-notice arrangements are normal, not an imposition.
The call ends with an assessment visit booked at a time that suits the family, including times when a son or daughter who lives further away can be there in person or on the phone.
Why do the first questions matter?
The questions on that first call are not a screening test to pass. They help the right preparation happen before anyone visits.
Knowing that someone lives with dementia, has recently left hospital, uses a hoist, or is caring for a partner as well as themselves changes what the assessor brings to the conversation and how long is set aside. Mentioning a discharge deadline means the timetable is built backwards from the day care must start.
Nothing you say commits you to anything. The purpose is a well-prepared visit, not a sales pipeline.
How should you prepare for the assessment?
You do not need to prepare much, and the visit works perfectly well if you prepare nothing. But three things make it more useful.
First, the medicines. Have the actual boxes or the repeat-prescription list to hand, rather than trying to remember names. Note anything that is hard, a blister pack that fights back, a tablet that gets forgotten at lunchtime.
Second, a rough picture of the week. When are the hard moments? Mornings? Evenings? Nights? Which tasks have quietly been given up, the bath replaced by a strip wash, the cooked meal replaced by biscuits?
Third, the questions you want answered. Write them down; assessment visits are relaxed, but it is easy to forget the thing you most wanted to ask. The section near the end of this guide suggests questions worth asking before the assessor leaves.
If the person the care is for is anxious about the visit, it can help to frame it accurately: nobody is coming to judge the housekeeping or take decisions away. They are coming to listen.
Who should be at the assessment?
The person the care is for should be there, and should do as much of the talking as they want to. Care that is arranged over someone's head rarely settles well, and their preferences, who comes into their home, at what time, to help with what, shape the whole plan.
Family members are welcome, and it usually helps to have at least one other person there for memory and moral support. Relatives who live far away can join by phone or video for the important parts.
It is also fine for part of the conversation to happen privately. Some things, continence, personal care, worries about a spouse, are easier to discuss without an audience, in either direction: the person alone with the assessor, or the family alone with the assessor. A good assessment makes room for both.
What about consent and decision-making?
The assessment happens with the person's agreement, and the care plan that comes out of it is theirs to accept, change or decline. Being older, or needing help, does not move that decision to anyone else.
Where someone may not be able to make a particular decision, for example because of dementia, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 applies. Capacity is decision-specific: someone may be able to choose what they wear and eat but need support with a complex financial decision. If a health and welfare lasting power of attorney (LPA) is in place, the attorney can be involved in care decisions the person cannot make; bring the LPA document to the assessment if one exists.
If no LPA exists and decision-making is becoming genuinely difficult, that is worth addressing sooner rather than later, gov.uk explains how LPAs work, and a solicitor or Citizens Advice can help with the person's own situation. It is much easier to set up while the person can still decide for themselves.
What does the assessment actually cover?
The visit is a structured conversation, usually at the kitchen table, taking about an hour, longer where needs are complex. This is what it works through and why.
| Stage | What happens | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Introductions and consent | The assessor explains who they are and checks everyone is happy to go ahead | The person stays in charge of their own assessment |
| The person's own words | What they feel has changed, and what a good day looks like | The plan is built around their life, not a checklist |
| A typical day and week | Morning to night: washing, dressing, meals, medication, sleep | Reveals where visits would actually help, and when |
| Health conditions | Diagnoses, recent hospital stays, upcoming appointments | Care must fit around health needs, not ignore them |
| Medication | What is taken, when, and what is hard about it | Missed or muddled doses are one of the commonest reasons care starts |
| Mobility and falls | How the person moves around, any falls, any equipment | Shapes safe support and flags where an OT or falls review may help |
| The home itself | Stairs, bathroom, heating, trip hazards, key access | Care happens in this space; small details matter daily |
| Food and drink | Appetite, cooking, shopping, weight change | Eating and drinking well underpins everything else |
| Company and interests | Hobbies, faith, friendships, what loneliness looks like | Companionship is care too, and often the most valued part |
| Family and carer input | What relatives currently do, and what is sustainable | Supporting the family carer keeps the whole arrangement working |
| Preferences and boundaries | Times, routines, language, who they would be comfortable with | Consent and dignity live in these details |
| Risks and what-ifs | What everyone worries about most, and what should happen if it occurs | Honest planning beats vague reassurance |
| The plan and the quote | Suggested visits, days and times, with an exact written price | You leave knowing precisely what care would look like and cost |
The order flexes with the conversation. Nobody is interrogated; a good assessor lets the person tell their story and gathers what is needed along the way.
What does the assessor look at around the home?
With permission, the assessor will usually want to see the spaces where care would happen: the bathroom, the bedroom, the stairs, the kitchen. They are looking at practicalities, is there room to help someone safely at the toilet, is the shower step manageable, where would a commode or profiling bed go if one is ever needed, not at tidiness.
They will also ask about getting in: keys, key safes, door entry. If night care or live-in care is being considered, sleeping arrangements for the care professional are discussed too, live-in care needs a spare bedroom.
None of this is a test to pass. Homes that need adaptations still suit home care; the assessment simply identifies what would make support safer and easier, and equipment needs can be raised with the council or an occupational therapist through the GP.
What can the assessor advise on, and what can't they?
The assessor can explain what support exists, how other families in similar situations arrange care, and what Aims can and cannot provide. They can describe how care would work around a health condition day to day.
What they will not do is act as a doctor: an assessment is not a medical examination, and an assessor should never diagnose, adjust medication or overrule clinical advice. If something health-related is worrying, new confusion, dizziness, a medicine that seems to be causing problems, the right route is the GP or the pharmacist, and a good assessor will say exactly that.
The same honesty applies to the money side: the assessor can explain how funding routes work in general and give you an exact price for Aims' own care, but for advice about your own finances the impartial routes below are the right ones.
How is the care plan built from the assessment?
Everything gathered at the visit is turned into a written care plan: which days, which times, how long each visit, and what happens in each one, not "personal care" in the abstract, but the actual morning routine described in the person's own terms.
The plan states the things that matter to the person, not only the tasks. If the routine is tea first, wash second, or the person prefers a female care worker, or the dog must be let out at eight, that belongs in the plan, because the plan is what every care worker follows.
A care plan is a living document. It is normal to start with less and add more, and normal for needs to change in both directions, after an operation, care often reduces as someone recovers. You do not have to get it perfect on day one.
What does the assessment cost, and what will care cost?
The assessment is free, and there is no obligation to go ahead. The quote you receive is exact and in writing, not an estimate that changes later.
Aims' published rates are the same seven days a week, with no weekend or bank-holiday premiums: 30-minute visits from £22, 45-minute visits from £25, one-hour visits from £28, sleeping nights from £150, waking nights from £29 per hour and live-in care from £225 per 24 hours. The pricing page has worked weekly examples, and the guide to home care costs per hour in Surrey explains what moves prices up and down across the market.
What is the difference between this assessment and the council's assessment?
They are different things, and many families benefit from both.
The council's version, a care needs assessment under the Care Act 2014, is carried out by Surrey County Council's adult social care team, is free to anyone who appears to need care, and is the gateway to council funding. Whether the council then contributes to costs is means-tested: for 2026/27 the national thresholds are £23,250 (above this you fund your own care) and £14,250. You can request one at surreycc.gov.uk/adults or on 0300 200 1005, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Family carers are entitled to their own free carer's assessment as well, in their own right.
Aims' assessment is the provider's version: it designs the actual care and prices it exactly. You do not need to have had a council assessment first, and having care privately does not stop you requesting a council assessment later. Aims' funding support service helps families with the paperwork for both, including Attendance Allowance forms, council assessment requests and NHS Continuing Healthcare evidence.
Two other funding routes are worth knowing. Attendance Allowance (£76.70 or £114.60 a week in 2026/27) is for people over State Pension age who need help with personal care; it is not means-tested, and details are on gov.uk. NHS Continuing Healthcare can fund care in full, at home, for people with long-term complex health needs, eligibility rests on assessed needs, not diagnosis; the NHS guide explains the process. For impartial help with any of it, MoneyHelper is free and government-backed, and Age UK Surrey and Citizens Advice can do benefits checks.
What are the possible outcomes after the assessment?
| Outcome | What it usually means | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Start with visiting care | A pattern of visits would meet the need | Days, times and a start date are agreed; care can usually begin within 24 to 48 hours |
| Start with night or live-in care | Support is needed overnight or around the clock | The plan covers sleeping or waking nights, or a live-in arrangement, with the same written pricing |
| Start small and review | The need is real but light | A couple of visits a week begin, reviewed as everyone learns what helps |
| Take time to decide | The family wants to reflect or compare options | The written plan and quote stand; there is no pressure and no expiry-date sales tactic |
| Signpost elsewhere first | Something else should come first, a GP review, an OT visit, a council assessment, equipment | You are told plainly, with the right route named |
| Not the right fit | The need is outside what home care safely provides | An honest explanation, and a pointer toward what would fit better |
You should leave the assessment knowing which of these applies. "We'll be in touch" with no plan attached is not how it should end.
How quickly can care start?
Care can usually begin within 24 to 48 hours of the assessment, and where a hospital discharge is waiting on a package of care, the assessment itself can be arranged at short notice, before or straight after discharge. If the timetable is being set by a discharge team, say so on the first call and the process is built around that date.
There is no minimum commitment implied by starting quickly. Short-term arrangements, a few weeks of reablement-style support after hospital, or respite cover so a family carer can take a real break, are a normal use of home care, not an exception.
What happens once care begins?
The first visits are where the plan meets reality, and small adjustments in the first couple of weeks are completely normal, a visit moved half an hour, a task swapped, a routine refined as the care worker learns how the person likes things done.
Say something early rather than politely enduring a niggle. The plan belongs to the person receiving care, and adjusting it is expected, not awkward. Reviews continue for as long as care does, because needs change, in both directions.
All of this happens inside a regulated framework: Aims is regulated by the Care Quality Commission, care workers are DBS-checked, and you can check any provider's registration for yourself on the CQC website, something worth doing with every agency you compare.
What questions should you ask before the assessor leaves?
Ask for the quote in writing, and check what it includes. Ask what happens if a visit needs to change or cancel, and what notice is needed to pause or stop care altogether. Ask how the family is kept informed, and who to contact when something feels wrong at 8pm on a Sunday.
Ask what happens if the regular care worker is unwell. Ask how the care plan is reviewed and how quickly it can change if needs change. And ask the honest question: "Is there anything you'd suggest we do differently, or instead?" The answer tells you a great deal about the agency.
What mistakes do families most often make?
The commonest mistake is waiting for a crisis to force the decision, then arranging everything in a panicked seventy-two hours. There is a better version: an unhurried assessment now, even if care starts small or not at all yet, so that if a crisis ever comes the groundwork is already done.
The second is arranging care over the head of the person it is for. Care that someone never agreed to gets cancelled at the door, resented, or quietly sabotaged. Involving them from the first conversation is not just respectful, it is what makes the arrangement stick.
The third is under-describing the need out of politeness or pride, the assessment can only plan for what it hears about. The fourth is families not mentioning their own limits: the daughter doing every evening visit is part of the picture, and her sustainability belongs in the plan. And the fifth is never claiming the funding help that exists, Attendance Allowance in particular goes unclaimed by families who assume they will not qualify.
Frequently asked questions
Is the home care assessment really free?
Yes. Aims Homecare's home assessment is free, and there is no obligation to go ahead afterwards. The council's care needs assessment is also free, regardless of your finances, the means test only affects whether the council contributes to care costs, never the assessment itself.
Am I committing to anything by booking an assessment?
No. The assessment produces a written care plan and an exact quote, and both are yours to think about for as long as you need. Taking time to decide, comparing other agencies, or deciding not to start care at all are all normal outcomes.
How long does a home care assessment take?
Usually around an hour. It can be longer where needs are complex, several health conditions, dementia, or a live-in arrangement to plan, and shorter where the need is simple. It is a conversation at the kitchen table, not an inspection, and it moves at the person's pace.
Does the person needing care have to be there?
Yes, it is their assessment, their home and their decision, and the visit is built around hearing from them directly. Family can and should join, in person or by phone, but care arranged without the person's involvement rarely settles well.
What if my parent refuses to consider help?
It is common, and it usually softens with time and the right framing, help with the house often lands better than "a carer". You can still call and talk options through without any visit happening. An adult with capacity has the right to decline care, even when family disagree.
What should I have ready for the visit?
Nothing is required, but three things help: the medication boxes or repeat-prescription list, a rough picture of which parts of the day are hardest, and your written-down questions. If a lasting power of attorney exists, have the document to hand.
Can an assessment be arranged urgently for hospital discharge?
Yes. Assessments can be arranged at short notice, before or straight after discharge, and care can usually start within 24 to 48 hours. Tell the first call about the discharge date and the timetable is built backwards from it.
Will you assess for live-in care as well as visits?
Yes, the same assessment covers every level of support, from 30-minute visits to full live-in care. If live-in care is being considered, the assessor will also look at practicalities such as the spare bedroom the live-in care professional would use.
What does home care cost after the assessment?
Aims' published rates are the same seven days a week: visits from £22 (30 minutes), £25 (45 minutes) and £28 (one hour), sleeping nights from £150, waking nights from £29 an hour and live-in care from £225 per 24 hours. Your written quote is exact, not an estimate.
Do you charge more at weekends or bank holidays?
No. The same rates apply seven days a week, with no weekend or bank-holiday premiums, so the weekly figure agreed at the assessment is the weekly figure you pay, whichever days the visits fall on.
Can the council pay for home care?
Sometimes. Council funding follows a care needs assessment and a means test: for 2026/27, savings above £23,250 mean self-funding, and below £14,250 only income is counted. Surrey County Council's adult social care team is on 0300 200 1005. You can use Aims privately whether or not the council contributes.
What is Attendance Allowance and should we claim it?
A benefit of £76.70 or £114.60 a week (2026/27) for people over State Pension age who need help with personal care. It is not means-tested, savings and income do not affect it, and it is worth checking even if you assume you would not qualify. Aims' funding support service helps families with the forms.
Are Aims care workers DBS-checked?
Yes, Aims is regulated by the Care Quality Commission and care workers are DBS-checked. You can check any care provider's registration on the CQC website at cqc.org.uk/care-services, and it is worth doing this for every agency you compare.
Which areas do you cover?
All of Surrey, with bases across the county, including dedicated local pages for towns from Guildford and Woking to Epsom and Farnham. The areas page lists every town.
What if we only need help for a few weeks?
Short-term care is normal: recovery after hospital, cover while a family carer takes a break, or a trial period to see whether home care helps. Respite and short-term arrangements are assessed and priced the same transparent way as long-term care.
What happens in an emergency between visits?
Medical emergencies are always 999, and urgent health concerns go to NHS 111 or the GP, home care runs alongside NHS services, never instead of them. What should happen in the situations your family worries about is discussed at the assessment and written into the care plan.
Can the care plan change after care starts?
Yes, and it is expected to. Visits can be added, reduced, moved or changed as needs change, care often reduces as someone recovers after hospital. Small adjustments in the first weeks are normal as the routine settles.
What if someone cannot make decisions about their own care?
Capacity is decision-specific under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Where someone cannot make a particular decision, a health and welfare LPA lets their chosen attorney be involved; bring the document to the assessment. Citizens Advice or a solicitor can advise on your family's own situation.
If an assessment sounds like the right next step, or you are not sure and want to talk it through first, we are happy to have a no-obligation conversation, including telling you honestly if we think a different kind of support would suit better. Call 01372 386222 or contact us online.
This article is general information, not advice about your own situation. Care needs, funding, benefits and legal arrangements differ from person to person, please speak to your GP, Surrey County Council's adult social care team, MoneyHelper or an independent adviser about your circumstances.
Last reviewed: 4 August 2026. Written by Sharon Draper, Aims Group Manager, Aims Homecare. Reviewed by Shazad Hashmi, Nominated Individual, BA (Hons). Next review: April 2027.