The Care Funding Nobody Tells You You’re Entitled To

Almost every family we meet has the same reaction when care funding comes up. Not relief. Bafflement. “Why did nobody tell us this?”

It’s a fair question. When someone starts needing care, there’s no letter through the door listing what help exists. No appointment where someone walks you through it. The support is real, and some of it is worth thousands of pounds a year, but nearly all of it works on one unspoken rule: you have to know to ask.

So consider this the conversation nobody else is having with you. Here are five funding routes worth knowing about, whether you’re arranging care for yourself or for someone you love.

Attendance Allowance: the benefit a million people miss

Attendance Allowance pays £76.70 a week if help is needed during the day, or £114.60 a week if it’s needed day and night. That’s up to £5,959 a year, tax free.

Here’s the part that surprises people: it is not means-tested. Savings in the bank, a house owned outright, a decent pension. None of it matters. Eligibility rests entirely on the help a person needs, not on what they have.

And yet around a million people who could claim it don’t. Some assume their savings rule them out. Some feel they’re managing, so it can’t be for them. Some have simply never heard of it. If you’ve reached State Pension age and need help or supervision because of a health condition, it is absolutely worth applying. Payments are backdated to the date your claim is received, so the sooner the form goes in, the better.

Council Tax: the dementia exemption that can be backdated years

This one genuinely feels like a secret, and it shouldn’t.

If someone has a dementia diagnosis and receives a qualifying benefit (Attendance Allowance counts), they are “disregarded” for Council Tax purposes. In plain English, the council no longer counts them when working out the bill. Someone living alone with dementia can see their Council Tax bill drop to £0.

Better still, councils will often backdate this to the date of diagnosis. We’ve known families reclaim several years of Council Tax they should never have been paying. One phone call to the local council can be worth thousands.

Council-funded care: what your savings actually mean

Whether the council contributes to care costs mainly comes down to savings and capital.

Above £23,250, you pay the full cost of your care. Below £14,250, your savings are ignored entirely and the council assesses only your income. In between, there’s a sliding scale.

The detail that eases a lot of worry: when care is provided in your own home, the home itself doesn’t count towards that figure. The fear of “losing the house to pay for care” simply doesn’t apply to home care. It’s one of the most common misconceptions we come across, and one of the most stressful for families who don’t know better.

The starting point is a care needs assessment from your local council. It’s free, and anyone can request one.

NHS Continuing Healthcare: when the NHS pays for everything

If someone’s needs are primarily medical rather than social, the NHS can fund the whole package of care. Not a contribution. Everything. This is called NHS Continuing Healthcare, and it isn’t means-tested either.

Honesty is important here: the assessment process is thorough and qualifying can be difficult. The bar for “primarily a health need” is set high. But the assessment itself costs nothing, very few families know the option exists, and for those with complex or deteriorating conditions it can be life-changing. If needs are complex, unpredictable or getting worse, ask for a Continuing Healthcare checklist. The worst outcome is confirmation that other funding routes are the right fit.

NHS-funded Nursing Care: £267.68 a week for nursing home residents

For people living in a nursing home who need care from a registered nurse but don’t qualify for full Continuing Healthcare, the NHS pays £267.68 a week directly to the home. Around 80,000 people currently receive it, and like the others above, it’s not means-tested.

If your relative is in a nursing home and you’ve never heard this mentioned, it’s worth asking the home whether an assessment has been done.

Where to start

If all of this feels like a lot, that’s because it is. Five different funding routes, three different organisations, and not one of them will come to you first.

Start with Attendance Allowance. It’s the most widely missed, it opens the door to other support like the Council Tax disregard, and the claim costs nothing but time.

And if you’d like someone to talk it through with, that’s genuinely what we’re here for. We help Cheshire East families navigate these funding routes every week, and there’s no charge for the conversation. Give us a ring on 01625 720157.

Kim Blissett is the Registered Manager at Visiting Angels Cheshire East, providing home care across Macclesfield, Wilmslow, Knutsford and the surrounding areas.

Figures correct for the 2026/27 financial year (rates from April 2026).