Dementia care in the Northumberland council area

Dementia care in Northumberland: questions people ask

How much does dementia care cost in the Northumberland council area?

Agencies in the Northumberland council area quote by the hour after an assessment, so there is no single price. The Homecare Association calculates that a provider needs to charge at least £34.42 an hour in 2026-27 to pay careworkers the statutory minimum for all their working time and run a compliant business. Two half-hour visits a day at that rate is roughly £481.88 a week. Northumberland paid £24.29 an hour for the care it commissioned in 2023-24.

Will the council pay for dementia care in the Northumberland council area?

Northumberland can arrange and fund care after a needs assessment, which is free and which anyone can request. What you contribute depends on a separate financial assessment. It paid providers an average of £24.29 an hour in 2023-24, the 22nd highest of 150 councils in England. The Homecare Association's minimum sustainable price is £34.42 for 2026-27. Those are different years, so treat the pair as context rather than a like-for-like gap. What a council pays shapes which agencies will take council-funded work at all.

Which dementia care services in the Northumberland council area are rated best?

19 of the 29 services in the Northumberland council area carry a published CQC rating and 19 of those, 100%, are rated Good or Outstanding. 5 are rated Outstanding, the top grade, among them South East STSS (Short Term Support Service), North STSS (Short Term Support Service) Berwick and North STSS (Short Term Support Service) Alnwick. A rating describes the service on the day it was inspected, so check the report date as well as the word.

Is the Northumberland council area well served for dementia care?

29 of the 55 home care services in the Northumberland council area are registered to support this, 53%, against 74% across England. That is less well served than most places, so widening your search may help. Registration is permission rather than specialisation, so it sets the size of the list rather than its quality.

How do I choose a dementia care agency in the Northumberland council area?

Start with what the regulator publishes, then ask what it cannot tell you: who would actually visit, whether it is the same carer each time, what happens when that person is ill, and how long a call really lasts. 10 of the 29 services in the Northumberland council area carry no published verdict at all, so for those the questions are the only evidence you have. Every service here comes from the public register, and contacting one costs nothing: we take no fee and no commission.