Paying for Care

How to pay for care

The issue of funding for care is an emotive subject, and one that worries many people, particularly at a time when
they are looking for extra support.

The first point of contact for working out paying for care should always be Surrey County Council Adult Social Care Team. They have an obligation to provide you with an initial assessment to ascertain eligibility and possibly a full needs assessment. This will ascertain:

What your individual needs are.
How those needs are best supported.
Whether you are entitled to any assistance with funding.

Whether you know you are going to be funding your care yourself, or you are unsure if you are entitled to funding you are entitled to an initial assessment to determine if you meet eligibility criteria

Assessment and eligibility

You can make an online assessment of your needs and eligibility on SCC’s website here, or call 0300 200 1005 or text: 07527 182 861.

Surrey County Council have produced a short film which explains how it all works.

It may also be worth checking entitlement to any Benefits

Direct Payments

What are Direct Payments?

If you already have support from social services, you can apply for direct payments.

It lets you choose and buy the services you need yourself, instead of getting them directly from. Surrey County Council

Direct payments and Personal Budgets are local social care payments for people who:

have been assessed as needing help from social services and
who would like to arrange and pay for their own care and support services instead of receiving them directly from the local authority

There are a number of ways in which you can pay for care. You will have to pay for the full cost of your care if you have savings of:

£23,250 or above for residential services
£24,500 or above for non-residential services

If you have less than this, you may qualify for financial support from Surrey County Council. They will ask you to do a financial assessment to work out how much you can afford to pay towards this cost.

Find out more

Complete Surrey County Council’s Financial Assessment to see how much you may need to pay towards your care costs. Surrey County Council’s Paying for Care publication explains the different options available and their eligibility criteria. If you, or someone you care for, is arranging and paying for their own care see our useful information to support you on the county council website. We would advise seeking independent financial advice to help you plan for care Society of Later Life Advisors are experts in this area.

You can find more information on Direct Payments here.