Does your loved one need care in Northern Ireland? This article offers insight into different funding options.
The cost of care in Northern Ireland depends on a number of different factors.
Is a care home or care at home the best option? Does your loved one require specialist care? Is a residential care home or nursing care home the right choice?
Of course, the cost of care - whether at home or in a residential or nursing home - can be a costly expenditure for many care seekers as they try to navigate their care options.
This is where questions around funding care costs come in.
Health and Social Care Trusts
There are six Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland, each of which offer services to the public on a local and regional basis:
- Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
- Northern Health and Social Care Trust
- Northern Ireland Ambulance Service HSC Trust
- South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust
- Southern Health and Social Care Trust
- Western Health and Social Care Trust
Before choosing the right form of care, care seekers will need to contact their local Health and Social Care Trust to get a care needs assessment.
There is no charge for a care needs assessment, but they are a requirement to determine the level of care that is needed and the amount you will need to pay for care.
Care home costs
The cost associated with living in a residential or nursing home differs depending on personal requirements, the location of the home, the facilities on offer and more.
The average cost of care homes in the UK per week are as follows:
- Residential cost: £1,232
- Nursing cost: £1,470
- Residential dementia cost: £1,294
- Nursing dementia cost: £1,534
- Residential respite costs per week: £1,317
Northern Ireland care home funding thresholds
When you move to a care home, you may be required to cover some or all of the cost of your care. The amount you need to pay depends on your capital and assets, and this will be determined through a financial means test, and you will be deemed to be either:
- Self-funded: You pay for care home fees yourself
- State-funded: Your local authority pays your care home fees for you
In Northern Ireland, the thresholds for 2024/25 are:
Over £23,250 in capital (savings, investments and property including the value of your home): You will be assessed as able to pay for all of your care
Between £14,250 and £23,250 in capital: Capital between these amounts will be calculated as providing you with an income of £1 per week for every £250 of your savings
Under £14,250 in capital: Your capital will not be counted in calculating how much you have to pay towards your care
Care recipients will need to contact their local Health and Social Care Trust for a care needs assessment and a financial assessment so that their local trust can determine whether or not they are able to meet the full cost of their residential care or nursing home.
It is important not to wait until your capital is already at or below the funding threshold as assessments can take time to arrange and receive decisions.
Care at home funding
If your loved one would prefer care at home for their care, you will need to contact your local Health and Social Care Trust to request a care needs assessment before the trust can determine the level of care your loved one may need.
Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Trusts tend not to charge for care at home services - although home help is sometimes charged on a means-tested basis. There is also a fixed charge for meals on wheels.
It is worth noting, however, that no one aged 75 or over is required to pay for home help.
Deferred Payment Agreements
There is no formal deferred payment system in Northern Ireland.
To find out whether it is available to you, it is important that you speak to your local Health and Social Care Trust.
Property and the financial assessment for care home fees
If you own your home, its value may be included in the financial assessment to determine who pays your care home fees.
However, your home will not be taken into account if a person (from the following list) also lives or will continue to live in the property after you have moved into a care home:
- A husband, wife or civil partner
- A close relative over the age of 60
- A dependent child
- A relative who is disabled or incapacitated
Your HSC also has discretion to decide whether or not to include the value of your home in the assessment if someone who does not fall into this group - especially if a carer has given up their own home to care for you - is living there.
12-week property disregard
The 12-week property disregard is available in Northern Ireland. But what does this mean for care seekers?
The value of your home, following a financial assessment, should not be taken into account for the first 12 weeks of you living in a care home.
The 12-week property disregard could therefore mean that, during this time, HSC trust will pay or contribute towards the fees.
Families can therefore utilise this grace period to arrange to sell the home or speak with the trust about other funding options.
Funding Funded Nursing Care (FNC)
Funded Nursing Care (FNC) is available in Northern Ireland towards the cost of providing registered nursing care in a nursing home for eligible individuals. The current amount is £100.
Continuing Healthcare (CHC)
Continuing Healthcare is a package of ongoing care arranged and funded solely by the National Health Service (NHS) when an individual has been found to have a ‘primary health need’.
A primary need is something beyond a personal care need and cannot be provided by the local authority.
To receive CHC funding, an individual or their legal representative needs to give consent for them to be screened.
If you’re uncertain as to you or your loved ones entitlement to Continuing Healthcare, the National Screening CHC checklist helps identify who should have a full assessment to check their CHC eligibility.
The next stage is a full assessment of eligibility using the decision support tool which is then sent onto the CCG to approve or reject CHC funding. However, if you or your loved one has a terminal illness, there is a fast track option.
If the person needing care is in hospital it is important to ask for an initial checklist to be completed. This can also be carried out in the community by social services.
Understanding funding and care costs is no easy task, but we hope this guide offers the guidance you need to take the first steps towards finding the right care for you or your loved one.