Paying for non-residential care

How we work out what you will pay

BSL Support

We do need to know about all the income you receive so that we can work our what you will pay.

What we take into account

Most benefits, including:

  • State retirement pension
  • Income Support
  • Employment Support Allowance
  • Guarantee Credit part of Pension Credit
  • Certain elements of Universal Credit.

Other income such as money from:

  • Private pensions
  • Annuity income
  • Rental income from property
  • Maintenance allowance.

What we ignore:

Income from any wages or earnings that you receive if you have a job and some benefits, such as the:

  • Mobility component of Disability Living Allowance
  • Mobility component of Personal Independence Payment
  • Savings part of Pension Credit.

What about disability benefits?

Disability-related benefits are also taken into account and include:

  • Attendance Allowance
  • Constant Attendance Allowance
  • The care component of Disability Living Allowance
  • The Severe Disability Premium included in your benefit
  • The care component of Personal Independence Payments.

How will you work out how much I will have to pay?

We look at your income, savings and expenditure. We work out your charges by:

  • Adding together all of your income
  • Taking off any income and benefits that are ignored, such as earnings
  • Taking off all allowable expenditure and disregards
  • Taking away a Basic Living Allowance which is also known as Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG).

The amount left (your assessable income), is the maximum we will ask you to pay.

The actual amount you pay each week will be the lowest of the following:

  • Your assessable income. This may be £0.00
  • The full cost of the service
  • The maximum charge (currently £400 per week).

What about my savings?

We ignore a proportion of your savings. The amount we ignore is set annually by the Government.

If you have more than this, we add £1 a week to your income for every £250 over this amount that you have. This will affect how much you will pay.

If your savings are more than £23,250 you will have to pay the full cost of your support up to a maximum of £400 per week.

To find out how much of your savings will be treated as income, use the Capital Tariff Income Table.

When I have paid for my support, how will you know that I have enough money left to live on?

When we work out how much you have to pay we disregard or "ignore" a large portion of your income to ensure that you can pay for your day to day living expenses.  You can find the Basic Living Allowance/ MIG rates available in our charges for non-residential care services leaflet (page 3). 

Is there any limit to what you can ask me to pay?

The most we can ask you to pay is the full cost of your support up to a maximum of £400 per week.