People living in care homes

• What we mean by care home
• How living in a care home affects Pension Credit
• Extra amount for severe disability
• Moving into a care home

This section explains the rules about Pension Credit for people who live permanently in a care home.

These rules do not apply to:

• people in National Health Service (NHS) nursing homes (who are treated in the same way as people in hospital),
• people in a care home temporarily (sometimes called ‘respite care’). In this case, Pension Credit will normally continue as if the person was still at home.

What we mean by care home

Care homes (sometimes called residential care homes or nursing homes) provide accommodation, meals, personal care and, in some cases, nursing care for elderly or disabled people or people who cannot manage at home because of some other condition.

Care homes in England are registered with the National Care Standards Commission. In Scotland they are registered with the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care and in Wales with the National Assembly for Wales.

How living in a care home affects Pension Credit

Your customer’s Pension Credit will be worked out in much the same way as if they were not living in a care home, but there are some differences, which we explain below.

If your customer lives permanently in a care home and their partner does not live there with them, their entitlement to Pension Credit will be looked at separately, as if both were single people.

If your customer still owns the property they lived in before moving into the care home, its value will be treated as capital unless:

• their husband, wife or civil partner, or the person who was their partner when they lived at home, still lives in it
• a close relative (who has either reached the minimum qualifying age, is disabled or incapable of work) still lives in it,
• they are trying to sell it.

Extra amount for severe disability

If your customer is getting Attendance Allowance (or the care component of Disability Living Allowance at the middle or highest rate) when they go to live permanently in a care home, and no-one is getting Carer’s Allowance for looking after them, they may get the extra amount for severe disability. Even if they could not get it while they were at home.

This is because other people in the care home are not viewed as living with them. However, this extra amount will stop if and when their Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance stops, normally after they have been in the care home for four weeks.

Moving into a care home

If your customer needs financial help to move into a care home they should contact their local authority’s Social Services/Social Work Department.

They should also contact them if they need support to be able to continue to live at home.

The Social Services/Social Work Department will first look at the kind of help your customer needs. They may then advise a move into a care home. If they do, they will also help choose a home that best suits your customer’s needs. They will also assess how much of the charge your customer will have to pay.

The Social Services/Social Work Department will normally arrange to pay the home’s fees, but different arrangements can be made if your customer, the home and the Social Services/Social Work Department agree.

For information leaflets about choosing a home, charging rules and NHS responsibilities on choice of home, contact:

• the Health Literature Unit on 0800 555 777 (England)
• the Welsh Assembly on 029 208 23944 (Wales),
• the Scottish Government on 0131 244 5403 (Scotland).