Will I have to pay for residential care?

In Northern Ireland, paying for residential care is covered by Health and Personal Social Services (NI) Order 1972. Article 99 of HPSS'72 provides for charging for accommodation in board and trust-managed homes and Article 36 of HPSS'72 makes provision for charging for accommodation in voluntary or private homes.

In both situations, a financial assessment must be carried out in accordance with the Health and Personal Social Services (Assessment of Resources) Regulations 1993 to determine whether you are able to pay for your accommodation.

If you are placed in residential care on a temporary basis, for the first eight weeks of your stay, the Trust can choose to conduct a financial assessment or can charge a sum that it believes would reasonable for you to pay. Most trusts levy a standard charge for temporary respite breaks in residential care for the first eight weeks, but from the beginning of the ninth week, trusts must conduct a financial assessment.

If you are referred to residential care as a result of Guardianship Order, the accommodation will be free of charge, however, you can’t just choose to be received into the Guardianship as you must meet criteria for Guardianship Order to be made.

If your local Trust decides you need residential care, they will carry out a financial assessment and may charge you if you are able to pay for these services – this is also known as a means-test assessment and will work out how much you will have to pay towards the cost of the care home. They will assess you as an individual so this means that they won’t take your partner’s income into account, but you will need to give the local Trust information about the money that you have.