Personal and nursing care in care homes

Personal and nursing care in care homes

Your local council can provide a flat rate payment for the personal and nursing care part of your care home fees if:

• you’re an adult and living in a care home which you pay for yourself
• and you’ve been assessed as having personal or nursing care needs

People of all ages can receive payments for nursing care if they’ve been assessed as needing it.

Payments for personal and nursing care are only part of the care home fees. You’ll still have to contribute towards your accommodation and living costs in the care home the residential part of your care home fees.

Rates

The personal and nursing care payment rates from 1 April 2024 are:

• £248.70 a week for personal care
• £111.90 a week for nursing care

How the payments are made

An assessment of your care needs will be carried out, and if you are eligible to receive free personal and/or nursing care, a contract will be put in place between the local council and the care provider. Once the contract is in place your council will make payments directly to the care provider.

The council doesn’t have to backdate the payments to the date you moved into the care home.

If you receive the personal care contribution towards your care home fees, you’ll no longer be eligible for Attendance Allowance after 28 days.

You must tell the Department of Work and Pensions about your change in circumstances by phoning 08457 123 456.

Read more about free personal and nursing care

Personal and nursing care for cross border individuals

If you’re coming to Scotland from another part of the UK, each individual local authority has a time limit in place for how long a person must live in the area before they are classed as residents and are eligible for free personal and nursing care.

If you’re coming to Scotland from another part of the UK but are retaining your home in your local area, you will not be eligible for free personal and nursing care.

You should contact the local authority you are planning on moving to, to discuss this further and ask for residency guidelines. 

Further information

The payment of care home fees is a complex subject and depends on many things which are unique to you.

If you want detailed information or personal advice, you can ask an experienced independent adviser.

Advice Direct Scotland – phone 0808 800 9060, 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday.

Age Scotland who have information on paying for care homes, or phone their helpline on 0800 12 44 222.