How Much Does a Care Home Cost in the UK — and Who Pays for It?
A plain-English walk-through of what care homes actually charge in 2026, how the local authority means test works, when the NHS pays instead, and what's true — and not true — about giving away assets before you need care.
UK care homes average around £1,128 a week for residential care and £1,372 a week for nursing care, though real prices range from under £900 to over £1,700 depending on region and care type. You pay the full cost yourself if you have capital above £23,250; below that, your local authority contributes on a sliding scale; and if you have significant ongoing health needs, the NHS may fund your care in full through Continuing Healthcare, regardless of what you own.
How much does a care home cost per week?
The most reliable independent figure comes from LaingBuisson's Care Homes for Older People UK Market Report, which surveys the actual care home market rather than a single directory's own listings: £1,128 a week for residential care and £1,372 a week for nursing care, on average, across the UK.[1]
You'll see higher national averages quoted elsewhere — some care-comparison sites report residential care closer to £1,300 a week.[2] That's not necessarily wrong; it usually means the figure is drawn from the specific homes marketing through that site, which tend to skew toward homes actively competing for private, self-funding residents rather than the full market including council-block-contracted beds. Treat any single "the average is £X" claim as a starting estimate, not a quote for a specific home — always ask the home directly for its current weekly rate.
Why does the cost vary so much by region?
Weekly rates, LaingBuisson market data[1]Property and staff costs drive most of the regional gap — the South East and London cost noticeably more than the North East and Yorkshire, a difference of over £400 a week for nursing care between the highest and lowest regions.
| Region | Residential /wk | Nursing /wk | Dementia /wk |
|---|---|---|---|
| South East | £1,312 | £1,579 | £1,502 |
| London | £1,289 | £1,543 | £1,478 |
| South West | £1,145 | £1,389 | £1,312 |
| East of England | £1,134 | £1,367 | £1,298 |
| West Midlands | £1,056 | £1,278 | £1,212 |
| East Midlands | £1,023 | £1,245 | £1,178 |
| North West | £1,012 | £1,234 | £1,167 |
| Yorkshire & Humber | £978 | £1,189 | £1,123 |
| North East | £897 | £1,098 | £1,034 |
Regional averages, not a quote — the specific home's own price is what you'll actually pay. Once iCare's regional cost data is built out home-by-home, county pages here will carry their own local range instead of a national table.
Residential care vs nursing care: what's the price gap?
Source: LaingBuisson Care Homes for Older People UK Market Report, 2025 edition.[1]
Who pays for a care home — you, the council, or the NHS?
One of the most-searched questions on this topic is whether family members are on the hook for a relative's fees. In almost all cases, no — the legal liability sits with the person receiving care, assessed against their own income, savings and (for residential care) property, not their children's.[3] The main exceptions are jointly-owned assets, a case where deprivation of assets is proven (see below), or if a relative has personally signed a third-party top-up agreement to cover the gap for a more expensive home.
Self-funded
- Triggered when
- Capital (savings, investments, and property if going into residential care) is above £23,250.
- Who decides
- You choose the home; no council involvement in fees.
- What it covers
- You pay the home's full rate directly.
Local authority-funded
- Triggered when
- Capital is below £23,250, following a needs assessment and financial assessment.
- Who decides
- Your local council, via a means test.
- What it covers
- A contribution scaled to what you can afford — full cost if capital is below £14,250.
NHS Continuing Healthcare
- Triggered when
- A complex, substantial and ongoing primary health need — not a specific diagnosis.[4]
- Who decides
- Your local NHS Integrated Care Board, via a multidisciplinary assessment.
- What it covers
- The full cost of care, including accommodation — and it's not means-tested at all.
How does the local authority means test actually work?
In England, the rules are the same wherever you live, though each council administers them.[5] Two figures matter:
Above £23,250 (the upper capital limit) — you're treated as a
self-funder and pay the full cost.
Below £14,250 (the lower capital limit) — only your income counts;
your savings and property below this level are ignored.
Between the two — you pay from income, plus £1 a week for every £250
of capital above £14,250 (this is called "tariff income").
For residential care, your home usually counts as capital — but not always straight away, and not if a qualifying relative still lives there. See the next section.
Do you have to sell your house to pay for a care home?
Not immediately, and sometimes not at all. Three things soften this:
- The 12-week property disregard. For the first 12 weeks after moving into permanent residential care, your council ignores the value of your home when working out your contribution — you're assessed on income and other capital only.[6]
- A deferred payment agreement (DPA). If the house still hasn't sold by the end of the 12 weeks, many councils will cover the property-related part of your fees as a loan secured against the home, repaid when it's eventually sold.[6]
- The disregard can be permanent if a spouse, partner, or certain other dependent relatives continue to live in the property.
Your home is never counted at all if you're receiving care in your own home rather than moving into residential care.
What is the "7-year rule" for care home fees?
"If I give away money or property more than 7 years before I need care, the council can't touch it."
There is no 7-year limit for care fee assessments. That number comes from inheritance tax gifting rules, which are a completely different piece of law.[7]
For care funding, a council can look back as far as it needs to. The test isn't how long ago a gift was made — it's whether you had a reasonable expectation of needing care at the time you made it. If a council decides that giving away savings, a property, or other assets was done with the intention of avoiding care fees, it can treat you as if you still owned them ("notional capital") when working out what you owe. Gifts made years before any health need arose, for ordinary reasons unrelated to care, are far harder for a council to challenge — but there's no clock that automatically runs out.
Can Attendance Allowance help pay for a care home?
Attendance Allowance is a tax-free, non-means-tested benefit for people over State Pension age who need help with personal care. From April 2026 it pays £76.70 a week at the lower rate or £114.60 a week at the higher rate, depending on whether help is needed by day, by night, or both.[8]
You can claim it while self-funding a care home. If your local authority takes over funding your care, Attendance Allowance usually stops 28 days after you move in — it's designed to help with the cost of support, and once the council is paying for that support directly, the two aren't paid together.
Other ways families fund care
Beyond savings, council funding and NHS Continuing Healthcare, some families use products like equity release (borrowing against a property without selling it) or an immediate needs annuity (a one-off payment that guarantees an income for care costs for life). These are regulated financial products with real trade-offs, and whether one makes sense depends entirely on individual circumstances. iCare doesn't sell or arrange these products, and nothing here is a recommendation to use one — if you're weighing this route, speak to an FCA-regulated financial adviser who specialises in later-life or care funding, ideally one accredited by the Society of Later Life Advisers.
Frequently asked
Based on LaingBuisson's independent UK market data, residential care averages around £1,128 a week and nursing care around £1,372 a week — but the real figure for any one home can run from under £900 to over £1,700 a week depending on region, room type and whether nursing or dementia care is needed. Always ask the home for its current weekly rate rather than relying on a national average.
If you've been correctly assessed as liable — either as a self-funder or for your means-tested contribution — refusing to pay doesn't remove the debt; it becomes an amount owed to the home or council. What you can legitimately do is challenge an assessment you think is wrong, ask about a deferred payment agreement if you're asset-rich but cash-poor, and check whether you should have been assessed for NHS Continuing Healthcare instead. There's no shortcut that makes a correctly assessed liability disappear.
LaingBuisson data puts dementia residential care at around £1,295 a week against £1,128 for standard residential care, and dementia nursing care at around £1,467 a week against £1,372 for standard nursing care — roughly a 10-15% premium, reflecting the higher staffing ratios specialist dementia units typically need.
Multiply the weekly rate by 52 and divide by 12. At the UK averages above, that works out to roughly £4,890 a month for residential care and £5,946 a month for nursing care — though, as with the weekly figures, the real cost for a specific home and region can be meaningfully higher or lower.
Make sure a full financial assessment has actually been done (don't assume you're a self-funder without one), check eligibility for Attendance Allowance and NHS Continuing Healthcare, ask about a deferred payment agreement if you'd otherwise have to force a quick house sale, and query the assessment if you think capital or income has been counted incorrectly. Giving away money or property to get under the capital threshold is a different matter — see the deprivation of assets section above.
Sources
- LaingBuisson, Care Homes for Older People UK Market Report, 2025 edition — independent UK care market research, cited via industry reporting.
- Care-comparison site self-reported averages (illustrative of how figures vary by data source and shouldn't be read as a second independent survey).
- Alzheimer's Society, Do you have to sell your house to pay for care?
- NHS, NHS continuing healthcare; Age UK, NHS continuing care.
- GOV.UK, Social care — charging for care and support, local authority circular.
- Local authority guidance on the 12-week property disregard and deferred payment agreements (figures cross-checked against multiple council publications).
- Solicitor and care-sector guidance on deprivation of assets and the absence of a statutory time limit for care fee assessments.
- Attendance Allowance rates 2026/27, cross-checked against multiple benefits-guidance publishers.
This article explains how the system generally works in England and is not financial, legal or medical advice, and not a substitute for a full financial assessment from your local authority or advice from a qualified professional. Rules differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Figures were correct when published and reviewed on 20 August 2026 — thresholds and benefit rates change, usually each April, so check current figures before relying on them for a real decision. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.