Introduction

This guide provides information about the financial help that may be available from the local council, for older people who have been assessed as needing care in a care home. It is designed to answer the majority of enquiries from older people and their families. Your local council’s social work department (or in some areas, the local health board) is responsible for assessing your need for care services and working out what financial support you may be entitled to. You can find their number in your phone book or call the Age Scotland helpline on 0800 12 44 222 and we will find the number for you. This guide does not explain the rules for social security benefits such as Pension Credit and Attendance Allowance that are paid by the Department for Work and Pensions; they are not the same as the rules about care home funding. If you would like information about benefit rules and entitlements, call our helpline or visit our website at www.ageuk.org.uk/scotland/ information-advice/money-matters/benefits. When this guide refers to couples or partners, this usually means married couples, civil partners or people who live as though they are a married couple or civil partners. In this guide we use the term care home to mean any care home registered with the Care Inspectorate in Scotland. It includes council homes and homes run privately and by charities, some of which provide nursing care as well as personal care. The information in this guide is correct as at April 2021. If you want to check that you have the most up-to-date copy of this guide, contact the Age Scotland helpline on 0800 12 44 222.