If the person you're caring for lives in England, your council's finance team will eventually ask a blunt question: how much do you have? Not how much care costs — how much you can pay toward it. This is the means test, and it decides almost everything that happens next.
It's run by your local authority under the Care Act 2014, and it applies to both residential care (a care home) and non-residential care (support at home) — though, as you'll see below, the two are treated very differently.
England uses two capital thresholds, both unchanged for 2026–27:
£23,250. Above this, you pay the full cost of your care yourself.
£14,250. Below this, your capital is ignored — you pay only from income.
Between the two limits, you don't pay the full cost, but you're not ignored either: the council adds a "tariff income" of £1 a week for every £250 of capital you hold above the lower limit. So £18,250 in savings — £4,000 above the £14,250 floor — adds £16 a week to what you're assessed as able to pay, on top of whatever you contribute from income.
"Capital" usually means savings and investments. If care is residential (a care home), the value of your home is normally included too, unless a spouse, partner, or certain dependent relatives still live there. For care at home, your home is not counted as capital at all.
If the council is helping pay for a care home place, you're legally entitled to keep a minimum amount each week for your own spending — toys, clothes, a haircut, whatever you choose. Nobody, not the council and not the care home, can direct how you spend it. For 2026–27 this Personal Expenses Allowance is £31.80 a week, up slightly from £30.65 the year before.
This is the detail that genuinely surprises people. Residential care has two clear capital thresholds and a published tariff formula. Non-residential care — the kind delivered in someone's own home — doesn't have a capped weekly charge in England at all. Councils set their own local charging policies for home care within the Care Act framework, and what you're actually asked to pay varies by council and by how much care you receive.
This matters because Wales caps non-residential charges at £100 a week by law. England has no equivalent cap — so if your situation could plausibly fall under either system (for instance, you're weighing a move), this is a genuine, material difference, not a technicality.
If the person you care for has a primary health need rather than primarily a social care need, they may qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare — and CHC funding has no means test at all. It's worth ruling in or out before assuming the local-authority charging rules above are what applies to your situation.
You also have your own entitlement, separate from all of this. As the carer — regardless of the means test above, which is about the person you care for — you have a legal right to a free Carer's Assessment under the same Care Act 2014, which can unlock a personal budget, respite, or direct payments for you.
The Entitlements Checker covers UK-wide payments and benefits alongside this council-level charging picture.
💰 Entitlements Checker 🇬🇧 UK Guide HubLast verified: October 2026, against the 2026–27 local authority circular. Capital limits, the PEA, and local home-care charging policies change — always verify current figures with your own local authority before making decisions.
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