Unlike the NHS, care and support is not free when you use it. All councils have to charge for care and support so that we can continue to provide it. We will always make sure that the amount you pay is affordable. We will often be able to help you with the cost.
Firstly, we look at the cost of your care and support. Then we look at your income and your assets (savings, shares, ISAs, etc) and work out how much of it you have available to pay. If you cannot afford to pay for all the care and support we have assessed that you need, we will help with the costs.
You can download a more detailed explanation at the bottom of this page.
During your assessment, we will pass your details to our team of charging assessors who will write to you to arrange a home visit.
You should be asked by the social care worker if you would like someone else (a partner, carer or friend) to be there when we visit. It is often helpful for you and the charging assessor to have someone else there.
If you want to ask an independent organisation to help you, Mind IN Salford, CAB and other organisations have advocacy services which act on your behalf and can be at meetings with you.
The charging assessor will:
The charging assessor will also make sure you and your family (and your carer if you have one) are receiving all the benefits to which you are entitled.
They will need to see full details of your income and assets. This includes things like your benefit award letters, building society passbooks, bank statements, share certificates, ISA statements, etc.
They will also need evidence of work or occupational pensions and details of any housing costs like rent, council tax or a mortgage. This will help them calculate how much you have available to use to pay for your support and identify any benefits to which you are entitled.
If you spend more on certain things because of a disability, for example extra heating, clothes or food, it will help if you can show the extra you need to spend and why.
The charging assessor will agree with you how much you will need to pay towards the cost of your care and support.
You can choose to pay by:
We will write to you to confirm how much you need to pay and how much we will be able to help you with the costs. This will include a detailed explanation of how we worked it out.
You will start paying from the first Monday after a charging assessor has visited. If your visit falls on a Monday, your charge will start from that day.
If we have worked out you can afford to pay something towards the cost of your care and support, the minimum charge is £3 per week.
The maximum charge we will ask you to pay is the actual cost to us of providing your support.
We will always leave you with at least your protected income.
If you do not tell us full details of your income and assets, or do not want us to visit, then we will charge you the full cost of the support you are getting.
If you do not receive your support for a full week (Monday to Sunday) or more then we will not charge you for that week.
If you are paying the full cost of your care and support, you will not have to pay for any day that we do not supply support. However, we may still charge for care and support if you give you us less than 24 hours notice that you wish to cancel.
You can appeal against the charge we have worked out you can afford. Details about how to do this are in a letter you will get confirming how much you have to pay. You will be able to ask an advocacy organisation to help you appeal.
Any changes in your income, assets or the amount of money you spend because of your disability may change how much you can afford to pay for your care and support. You must contact us so that we can work out the new figures.
If there is less than £1 per week difference between your old and new charge, then your charge will not change.
If you are married or living together, we can work out how much you can afford to pay, by looking at your joint finances. You will need to give us permission to do this.
If you get Supporting People support, we include this in the cost when we work out your charge. Some services have a separate charge. You must still pay these.
If you are unable to view documents of these types, our downloads page provides links to viewing software.
This page was last updated on 30 May 2023