Free personal care for people over 65
People over 65 in Scotland are entitled to free personal care, which means that local authorities can only charge for some of the care they assess older people as needing.
Local authorities should take care to split the care package into personal and non-personal care elements for charging purposes.
Non-chargeable personal care elements include support such as:
- Assistance with personal hygiene,
- Eating and drinking,
- Help with immobility problems,
- Management of medication, or
- Personal safety.
The following services are not considered to be personal care, so are subject to a charge:
- Housework
- Laundry
Older people in residential or nursing homes will receive contributions from the local authority towards the costs of personal care. This contributes to the cost of the care – those contributions are currently £171 a week for social care and £78 a week for nursing care.
Older people in residential or nursing homes will receive contributions from the local authority towards the costs of personal care.
Local authorities will continue to provide up to four weeks’ free care at home following discharge from hospital.
