Care guides
Arranging care for the first time means learning a system nobody explains to you, usually in a hurry. These are the parts that cost people the most when they get them wrong.
Paying for care
What it costs, who pays, and what you can claim.
- How to pay for care at homeWhether your council will pay, what the savings thresholds are, and the benefits most people miss.
- Attendance Allowance: the benefit most people missNot means tested, does not depend on savings, and hundreds of thousands who qualify never claim it.
- Direct payments explainedTake the money and choose the agency yourself, if the budget stretches far enough to buy anything.
Choosing a service
How to compare agencies and what to ask.
Types of care
Visiting, live-in, respite and the rest, in plain terms.
Care for a condition
Dementia, stroke, Parkinson’s and end of life care at home.
Your rights
Assessments, complaints, safeguarding and the law.
Where to get advice about your own situation
These guides are general information. For your own case, your council’s adult social care team handles assessments and funding, Age UK runs a free advice line that will go through benefits entitlement with you, and Citizens Advice will help with claims and appeals. None of them charge.
10 of 10 guides published so far. Figures are checked against the primary source and dated, and rates change each April.