Charging and financial
assessment
Care Act 2014
Introduction
 The local authority may charge people for care and support services,
and for arranging them, but some services must be free of charge
 The local authority must carry out a financial assessment if it is going to
charge for services, but a ‘light touch’ financial assessment may be
appropriate in some circumstances
 Charges are subject to limits, which depend on whether someone is
receiving care in a care home, their own home, or another setting
 Top-up fees can be charged if a person chooses a more expensive
residential care option
 Debts may continue to be recovered under the new legal framework
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Financial assessment
 In a financial assessment, both capital and income must be assessed,
which will be either disregarded, partially disregarded or included
 Some capital and income must be disregarded and local authorities
have discretion to disregard assets in some other circumstances. For
example:
 the value of a person’s main or only home must be disregarded
where they are receiving care in a setting that is not a care home
 to help encourage people to remain in or take up employment
earnings from current employment must be disregarded
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‘Light-touch’ financial
assessments
 A local authority may choose a ‘light touch financial assessment’ for
instance where:
a) The person has significant financial resources, and does not wish
to undergo a full financial assessment for personal reasons
b) There is a small or nominal charge for a particular service, and
carrying out a financial assessment would be disproportionate
c) An individual is in receipt of certain benefits
 If the authority chooses to do so the person must be informed that they
have the right to request a full financial assessment should they so wish
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Information and advice
 Accessible information and advice, including:
 Independent financial information and advice
 Top-ups
 Deferred payment agreements
 Complaints
 The person must be given a written record of the financial assessment
which includes an explanation of how it has been carried out and what
the charge will be (if any)
 The local authority must establish whether the person has the capacity
to take part in the care plan and the information disclosure involved in
financial assessment
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What charges can be made?
 How much a person can be charged will depend on whether a person is
in a care home or receiving care and support in another setting
 Local authorities may charge a carer for support, but they must not
charge for ‘replacement’ care and support provided directly to the
person the carer supports
 Charges should be reasonable and not leave people with less than a
specified amount of income
 A person can choose a more expensive residential care setting, through
a ‘top-up’ from a third party or the resident
 A local authority must not charge more than the cost that it incurs in
meeting the assessed needs of the person
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Recovery of debts
 The existing powers under S22 of HASSASSA 1983 will no longer
apply from 1 April 2015
 From then on local authorities must use the provisions under S69 of the
Care Act:
 Must offer a DPA whenever possible
 Ultimately an authority has powers to recover money through the
county court
 Principles of the approach to debt recovery:
 Court action should be the last resort
 The local authority should act reasonably
 Affordable repayments
 Debts and repayments discussed with the person
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