Avoiding Care Home Fees
In England, assessable capital above £23,250 usually means paying for your own social care, but NHS funding follows separate needs-based rules. Check what support you qualify for. The rules around what counts as your assets, when your home is included, and what the council can challenge are more nuanced than most people realise.
Last updated: September 2026
Here's the honest truth: there are some things you can do, some things that used to work but don't anymore, and some things that will land you in serious trouble. Let's go through all of it.
How Much Are We Actually Talking?
Care home fees in England average around £1,300–£1,500 per week depending on the type of care needed. Nursing homes are more, often £1,500–£1,800 per week. Over a year, that's £67,000 to £93,000. Over two or three years (roughly the average stay), you could be looking at £130,000 to £280,000.
That's why people panic. And that's why there's so much bad advice floating around online.
The Means Test: Where It All Starts
When someone needs residential care, the local authority carries out a financial assessment. The rules are straightforward:
These thresholds have not changed since 2010. They're frozen. And there is currently no cap on how much someone can be asked to spend on care (see below).
When Your Home IS Counted
If the person going into care owns their home and nobody else is living in it, the property counts as part of their assets. A house worth £250,000 puts you well over the £23,250 threshold, so you'd be expected to self-fund until your assets drop below that line.
When Your Home ISN'T Counted
Your home is disregarded from the means test if any of these people still live there:
- Your spouse or civil partner
- A relative who is aged 60 or over
- A relative who is disabled or incapacitated
- A child under 18 that you're responsible for
There's also a 12-week property disregard when someone first moves into permanent residential care. During those 12 weeks, the home is not counted in the financial assessment. This gives families breathing room to take legal advice and explore options.
There Is No Cap on Care Costs
The previous government announced an £86,000 lifetime cap on care costs, due to take effect in October 2025. The current government scrapped it in July 2024.
The proposed cap is not in force. Current council support depends on needs and financial assessments, with capital and income disregards where applicable. Plan using current rules rather than assuming a future cap will pay your fees.
Things People Try, And Whether They Work
Tenants in Common
Instead of owning your home as joint tenants (where the whole property automatically passes to the surviving partner), you switch to owning it as tenants in common, each holding a defined share, typically 50/50.
The idea is that if one person later needs care, only their share is assessed. The other person's share, particularly if it passes to children via a will rather than the surviving partner, sits outside the means test.
Does it work? Partly. If the healthy partner is still living in the property, the home is disregarded anyway. The strategy becomes more relevant after both partners have died or moved into care. It's legal and widely used, but councils are aware of it and can challenge arrangements that were clearly set up to avoid care fees. Get proper legal advice before doing it.
Putting the House in Your Children's Names
This is the approach people think of first. Give the house away, problem solved.
It isn't that simple. If the council decides you transferred assets deliberately to avoid paying for care (this is called deprivation of assets), they can assess you as if you still own them. It doesn't matter that the property is legally in someone else's name. The council looks through the transaction to the intent behind it.
There is no fixed time limit on how far back councils can look. The question is always about intent. A transfer made 15 years ago when you were fit and healthy with no care needs in sight is harder to challenge. A transfer made two years ago when your memory was already failing is not.
Trusts
Setting up a trust to hold assets is another approach people explore. The thinking is that if assets are held in a trust, they're no longer yours.
Again, the deprivation of assets rules apply. If the trust was set up to avoid care fees, the council can still count those assets. Some older trusts created for genuine reasons (inheritance tax planning, protecting assets for disabled beneficiaries) may be treated differently. Anything done recently with the obvious goal of protecting assets from a care assessment is likely to be challenged.
Spending Down Savings Before Assessment
Some families spend savings quickly before a needs assessment (on home improvements, gifts, or large purchases) to bring assets below the threshold.
Councils assess what they call “notional capital”: assets they believe you've deliberately disposed of. Unusually large expenditure in a short period before a care assessment is one of the patterns they look for. Legitimate spending on home adaptations, reasonable gifts, and normal living costs are generally fine. Strategic spending to beat the means test is not.
How Councils Assess Deprivation of Assets
Transferring an asset does not automatically establish deprivation. The council must consider the circumstances at the time of the transfer.
The statutory guidance asks whether avoiding charges was a significant motivation, and whether the person could reasonably have expected to need care and contribute to its cost. If deliberate deprivation is found, the council may assess notional capital or seek recovery from the recipient within the legal limits. Ask for a written explanation of any decision.
If you're considering any form of financial planning around care fees, take proper legal advice first. Getting it wrong is expensive and the consequences can outlast the person who needed care.
What You Can Legitimately Do
Rather than trying to avoid care fees through asset transfers, there are genuine ways to reduce what you actually pay:
Claim Attendance Allowance
Attendance Allowance is worth up to £114.60 per week (higher rate, 2026/27) for people over State Pension age who need help with personal care. It's not means-tested, so savings and income are irrelevant.
If the person is self-funding, Attendance Allowance continues and can be used directly towards care fees. Many families never claim it. Over a two-year stay, the higher rate adds up to nearly £12,000.
Current rates (April 2026):
• Lower rate (day or night care): £76.70 per week
• Higher rate (day and night care): £114.60 per week
Push for NHS Funded Nursing Care
If the person lives in a nursing home, has assessed registered nursing needs and does not qualify for CHC, FNC may apply. England's standard rate is £267.68 weekly for 2026/27. It is not means-tested; admission alone does not establish eligibility.
The £368.24 weekly higher rate is for residents who remain eligible under the pre-October 2007 high-band arrangements. It is not a new higher award simply because needs become more complex.
Ask the ICB for the assessment and funding decision. Ask the home for a fee breakdown, because quoted fees may already exclude the NHS payment.
Request an NHS Continuing Healthcare Assessment
CHC funds an agreed package of assessed health and social care needs for someone found to have a primary health need. This includes accommodation where the package is provided in a care home. It is not means-tested.
Eligibility depends on the nature, intensity, complexity and unpredictability of assessed needs. Ask the GP, care team or ICB whether an assessment is appropriate, and request a written decision with reasons.
Use a Deferred Payment Agreement
If the property is counted, ask about a Deferred Payment Agreement (DPA). Councils must offer one where the relevant eligibility and security requirements are met, and may offer one in other circumstances. It delays payment of agreed costs; the debt must be repaid under the agreement.
The council may charge interest up to the national maximum and administration costs. Ask for its current rate, charges and repayment terms, plus an illustration of how the debt may grow.
This doesn't avoid the fees. It defers them. But it means the house doesn't have to be sold immediately, which matters to a lot of families.
Challenge the Care Home's Fees
Care homes set their own prices and there's often more flexibility than families realise. If the council rate for your area is significantly lower than what the home charges self-funders (which is common), you can negotiate. Some homes will meet somewhere in the middle, particularly if occupancy is lower than usual.
Get a Proper Financial Assessment
Don't assume you'll be self-funding without getting a formal assessment first. Some assets are disregarded, some income is protected, and the rules around couples are different from individuals. A financial assessment might reveal you're entitled to more help than you expect.
Speak to a SOLLA-Registered Adviser
Care fees planning is a specialist area. A generic financial adviser or solicitor may not know the detail. Look for someone registered with the Society of Later Life Advisers (SOLLA). They specialise in later-life financial planning including care fees. A one-hour consultation typically costs £200–£500 but can identify savings worth many times that.
Find one at societyoflaterlifeadvisers.co.uk.
The Bottom Line
There's no mechanism to completely avoid care home fees if you have significant assets. Anyone suggesting otherwise is either misinformed or trying to sell you something.
What you can do is understand the rules properly, claim everything you're entitled to, avoid the mistakes that make things worse, and get professional advice before making any significant financial decisions. Families who plan ahead, before care is needed urgently, almost always end up in a better position than those who are trying to figure it out under pressure.
The earlier you start thinking about this, the more options you have.
Funding sources checked 19 September 2026
These funding rules apply to England. Other UK nations have different arrangements.
Could the NHS pay for your relative's care home fees?
NHS Continuing Healthcare is free care home funding with no means test and no savings limit. Many families don't know about it. The CHC Family Guide explains exactly how to claim it.
Find out in the CHC Family Guide (£37)Have a question this guide didn't answer?
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Could the NHS pay for your relative's care home fees?
NHS Continuing Healthcare is free care home funding with no means test and no savings limit. Many families don't know about it. The CHC Family Guide explains exactly how to claim it.
Find out in the CHC Family Guide (£37)