Paying for your residential or nursing home

How to pay your client contribution

You'll usually be asked to pay the assessed charge directly to the care home. The preferred method of payment is by monthly standing order from your bank account. 

If you’re staying in a council-run care home, you will be billed by the council’s Central Collection Team and the invoice will have details about how to pay.

Third Party or ‘top up’ client contribution

Each year the council sets the fee rates it will pay to care homes. Many care homes agree to the council’s set rates for some or all of their rooms, but others charge more.

If you choose to go into a care home that costs more than the council’s set rates, you’ll need to pay the difference. This is called a third-party top up. You must pay this amount as well as the amount you have been assessed to pay towards your care.

If you’ve already been paying for a care home which costs more that the set rates, and your savings are about to fall below £23,250, you should look into different options to pay for your care.

You may want to:

• ask the home to accept the lower fee rate
• move to a different room in the care home at the lower fee rate
• arrange for someone to pay the third party top-up charge
• move to a different care home that costs within, or closer to the set rate

Find out about the charging policy for care services.