Paying for adult social care
Unlike health care, social care is not free for everyone. To determine if you need to pay for your social care, we carry out a financial assessment. This will ordinarily take place at the same time of your care and support needs assessment.
The financial assessment will look at your:
- income
- savings and investments
- benefits including tax credits
As a result of the assessment we will work out how much you will need to contribute towards your care. This may be some or all of the costs, depending on your income, savings and assets.
Before you start
Take a financial assessment
Please note that most people who use social care services pay for all of the costs.
Need to upload documents?
You can upload extra documents, such as bank statements or council tax bills. These can be used as evidence for an existing financial assessment.
The different types of payment methods
Deferred payment
This is an arrangement with the council that uses the value of your home to pay for your care. If you are eligible you will repay your care costs to the council when you sell your home.
The council may charge a small amount of interest on the amount owed. There may also be a fee for setting up this arrangement. This fee is to cover the council’s costs, not to make a profit.
For more information and advice on paying for your care, please use the links below:
Paying a direct payment surplus
Returning funds
If you receive a Personal Budget by direct payments, your Cash Personal Budget account will be monitored regularly. This is because these are public funds and are subject to monitoring. Any unspent or unused funds should be returned to the council.
If the following applies to you, please use the form below to return the funds to Harrow Council:
- You have been told by the Monitoring Officer to return any surplus in the Direct Payments Account.
- You have been told by your social worker or care manager following a review to return funds.
- If the personal budget account is closed following final monitoring
- If you have received an overpayment due to a decrease in package.
If you are unsure or need any help please email direct.payments@harrow.gov.uk for support.