Yes, the council can pay towards care in your own home, if a free needs assessment shows you need support and a financial assessment shows savings under £23,250 (2026/27, England). And here is the fact families most often miss: for care at home, your house is never counted in that means test. Only savings and income are.
Read that middle sentence again, because it changes everything about who bothers to apply. Families look at the house, assume “we’d never qualify”, and quietly pay for years of care they might have had help with. This article walks through the whole journey, forms and all, in plain English, with the 2026/27 figures and where they came from.
Will the council count your house?
No. Not for care in your own home. Ever.
The means test for home care looks at savings and income only. The confusion comes from care homes, where the house usually does count for a permanent move (unless a partner or certain qualifying people still live in it). Somewhere along the way the two sets of rules merged in the public imagination into “the council takes the house”, and a great many people who own a home but hold modest savings never apply for help they could actually get.
So the honest starting position is this: if the savings are under £23,250, council help with home care is genuinely in reach, whatever the house is worth. The rules are in the government’s 2026/27 charging circular, published 17 February 2026, and they are considerably kinder than the rumour mill suggests.
How does the process work, start to finish?
Four steps, in a fixed order, each one triggering the next:
Step one: what happens at the needs assessment?
The needs assessment is free for absolutely everyone, millionaires included, under the Care Act 2014. No means test, no charge, no catch. Someone from adult social care looks at what daily life actually involves: washing, dressing, meals, medication, getting about, staying safe, staying connected to other humans.
To ask for one: apply online at gov.uk, or in Surrey call adult social care on 0300 200 1005. Before the visit, keep a week’s diary of what is hard and what help is already happening. Assessments have a way of landing on the one good day of the month, and a diary keeps the picture honest.
While you are at it: if a family member is providing care, they are entitled to their own free carer’s assessment, looking at the support they need to keep going. Carers are the most under-assessed workforce in Britain, largely because they are too busy caring to fill in forms about it.
Step two: how does the financial assessment work?
If the needs assessment finds eligible needs, the council then means-tests you. For care at home in 2026/27:
| Your savings | What happens |
|---|---|
| Over £23,250 | You pay the full cost of your care (“self-funding”) |
| £14,250 to £23,250 | The council contributes; you pay “tariff income” of £1 a week for every £250 between the limits, plus most income |
| Under £14,250 | Savings ignored entirely; most income still goes towards fees |
The tariff income sounds worse than it is. As an illustration: £18,250 in savings is £4,000 above the lower limit, which is sixteen lots of £250, so £16 a week of tariff income. Not nothing, but a long way from “the council takes everything”. Income is assessed too, and the rules protect a personal expenses allowance of £31.80 a week (2026/27) that is always yours.
And once more for the people at the back: the house is not in this calculation. Savings and income only, for care in your own home.
While we are clearing up rumours: the £86,000 lifetime cap on care costs you may remember from the headlines was cancelled on 29 July 2024 and nothing has replaced it (House of Commons Library briefing CBP-9315). Anyone still planning around it is planning around a ghost.
One caution from the kitchen tables of Surrey: giving money away to squeeze under the thresholds is called deprivation of assets, councils can treat you as still owning whatever you gave away, and they are better at spotting it than the internet believes. Take regulated advice from MoneyHelper or a later-life adviser before moving anything larger than a teapot.
Step three and four: what are a personal budget and direct payments?
If you qualify, the council sets a personal budget: the weekly amount it has worked out your eligible care needs cost, minus your assessed contribution. Then comes the decision most families do not realise they get to make.
You can let the council arrange care with its contracted provider. Or you can take the money as direct payments and spend it with a regulated provider you choose. Yes, including us. Direct payments exist precisely so that the person receiving care picks who walks through their front door, rather than being matched to whoever won the council tender that year.
Plenty of the families we support use direct payments towards hourly visits, home help or as a contribution towards live-in care. The paperwork is real but survivable: the council pays the money into a dedicated account, you use it for the care agreed in your support plan, and you keep simple records so the council can see it went on care rather than a conservatory. Our funding support team helps families set all this up every week, free, with tea. We have opinions about the forms. We keep them to ourselves. Mostly.
Why does this choice matter so much? Because 97% of people say they would rather stay in their own home than move into a care facility, and direct payments are the mechanism that keeps council-funded care on those terms: your home, your routine, your choice of who has a key.
Is there funding that skips the means test entirely?
Yes, and it deserves its own paragraph in bold type: NHS Continuing Healthcare. Where someone’s needs are primarily health-driven rather than social, the NHS can fund their care in full, with no means test whatsoever, and it can be delivered at home. Not “in a care home only”. At home.
The process runs in two stages: a Checklist screening first, then a full multidisciplinary assessment using the Decision Support Tool across 12 care domains, with a decision usually within 28 days. For someone who is terminally ill there is a fast-track route, usually decided within 48 hours. It is under-claimed and under-explained, so if health needs are significant, ask about it before assuming the council route is the only one. The NHS guide is the place to start, and the Checklist stage costs nothing.
How long does all this take?
Honest answer: longer than anyone would like. Councils deal with a great many requests, and assessments can take a while from first phone call to money actually flowing. We will not invent a number of weeks, because it varies by council and by season, but the practical advice is the same everywhere: start early. The best time to request an assessment is when you first notice care might be needed, not the week it becomes urgent.
And if care is needed before the council process finishes, you do not have to wait in limbo. Families often start self-funded care to bridge the gap, then adjust once the funding decision lands. With us, care can begin within 24 to 48 hours of a free assessment, which is a useful number to hold next to any waiting list.
What if you have more than £23,250?
Then you self-fund, but do not skip the process entirely, because three things are still worth having:
- The free needs assessment. Still free, still useful: it documents needs, unlocks other support, and means the council already knows you if savings later fall towards the threshold.
- Attendance Allowance. £76.70 or £114.60 a week (2026/27), for people over State Pension age needing help with daily living, and it is not means-tested at all. Details at gov.uk.
- Carer’s Allowance for a family carer: £86.45 a week (2026/27), with an earnings limit of £204 a week. It can affect the benefits of the person being cared for, so check with Carers UK or Citizens Advice before claiming.
Self-funders should also know their own numbers: our rates start from £22 for a 30-minute visit and from £28 an hour (July 2026), same seven days a week, no weekend premiums, all on our pricing page.
What should you do next?
- Request the needs assessment today. Online at gov.uk or, in Surrey, on 0300 200 1005. It is free, and the queue only grows while you think about it.
- Ask for a carer’s assessment at the same time if family are providing care. Same phone call, two assessments.
- Gather the paperwork early. Savings statements, income details, benefit letters. The financial assessment goes faster when the drawer of doom has already been sorted.
- Say the words “direct payments”. If funding is agreed, tell the council you want to choose your own regulated provider. It is your legal right, not a favour.
Frequently asked questions.
Will the council count my house in the means test?
Not for care in your own home, ever: the financial assessment looks at savings and income only. The house can count for a permanent care home move, which is where the confusion comes from, but for home care it is simply not part of the sums.
What if I have more than £23,250 in savings?
You self-fund your care, but the needs assessment is still free and worth having, and Attendance Allowance (£76.70 or £114.60 a week, 2026/27) is not means-tested at any savings level. Many self-funders leave that unclaimed for years, which is a small ongoing tragedy.
Can I choose my own care company with council funding?
Yes. Ask for your personal budget as direct payments and you can spend it with any regulated provider you choose, including Aims. The alternative is care arranged by the council with its contracted provider. The choice is yours under the Care Act 2014.
Does the council pay for live-in care?
It can contribute where the needs assessment supports that level of care, though packages vary by council and by case, so treat any figure as a guide until your own assessment is done. Families sometimes combine a council contribution with their own funds; we can talk you through how that works.
If the process sounds like a lot, that is because it is, but you do not have to do it unaided. Call our Leatherhead team on 01372 386222 or book a free assessment, and we will help with the forms, the phone calls, and the hold music endurance. Biscuits provided.
Sources and references.
- GOV.UK, Social care charging for 2026/27, local authority circular, 17 February 2026 (thresholds, tariff income, personal expenses allowance)
- GOV.UK, Apply for a needs assessment (Care Act 2014)
- Surrey County Council, paying for care, adult social care 0300 200 1005
- GOV.UK, Attendance Allowance and Carer’s Allowance, 2026/27 rates
- NHS, NHS Continuing Healthcare
- House of Commons Library, briefing CBP-9315 (cancellation of the care costs cap, 29 July 2024)
- Age UK, paying for homecare
- MoneyHelper, Long-term care guidance
- Carers UK, help and advice for carers
- Aims Homecare price sheet, July 2026, at aimshomecare.co.uk/pricing