If you are arranging care for yourself or a parent, the hard question is rarely which home: it is how to pay for it without the money running out. Care fee planning answers that with the actual rules rather than guesswork.
What care fee planning covers
A care fee adviser starts by understanding the rules, because they decide everything that follows. In England the council first carries out a needs assessment, establishing what care you require, before any talk of money. A separate financial assessment, the means test, then weighs your capital and income to decide who pays.
The thresholds are the pivot. What counts as capital, savings, investments, and sometimes the value of your home, is measured against two figures frozen for years.
The England capital means test (2026)
| Your assessable capital | What the council does |
|---|---|
| Over £23,250 | You are a self-funder and pay the full cost of your care. |
| £14,250 – £23,250 | The council contributes, but you pay a tariff of £1 a week for every £250 of capital in this band, on top of your income. |
| Under £14,250 | This capital is disregarded. You still contribute most of your income, keeping a small personal expenses allowance. |
Whether the home counts is often the biggest factor, and it is widely misunderstood. Care at home never counts the property. In residential care it is disregarded while a spouse, partner or certain relatives still live there, with a 12-week grace period when someone first moves in. Our later-life care guide covers the disregards in full.
The main ways people pay
For a self-funder there are three broad routes, often combined. Funding from assets means drawing on savings, investments or the proceeds of the home, simple, but with no ceiling, so the open-ended risk sits with you. A deferred payment agreement lets the council pay the fees against a legal charge on your property, so it is sold later from your estate rather than in a hurry now. And a care fee annuity, an immediate needs annuity, trades a lump sum for a guaranteed income for life.
Paying fees from capital
- No ceiling, if care lasts many years, the money can run out.
- You keep full control of the capital and any growth.
- Straightforward; no medical underwriting.
A care fee annuity
- Fees are met for life, however long care is needed.
- Income is tax-free when paid direct to a registered care provider.
- The capital is gone, you accept a fixed cost now for certainty later.
None of these suits everyone. The trade a care fee annuity makes, certainty in exchange for capital you can never get back, depends on health, life expectancy and how much you want to protect for the next generation. This is where regulated advice earns its keep.
NHS Continuing Healthcare, the route many miss
If someone’s need for care is primarily a health need rather than a social one, it may be met free by the NHS under NHS Continuing Healthcare. This is fully funded, not means-tested, and ignores capital and income entirely. Yet many who might qualify never apply, and assessments are often not offered automatically.
Eligibility runs from a checklist to a fuller assessment of the nature, intensity and unpredictability of the needs. It is worth knowing the route exists before spending down a lifetime’s savings on fees the state might have covered.
Who needs advice, and the trap to avoid
You may not need an adviser if the numbers are simple, savings already below £23,250, care at home, no property. Then the council does most of the work and paid advice adds little.
You are far more likely to benefit as a self-funder with a property, when a care fee annuity is on the table, or when weighing a deferred payment against selling. And one trap is worth naming plainly: giving the house away usually backfires. If a council judges that assets were moved mainly to avoid care fees, deliberate deprivation, it can assess you as though you still own them, so the fees fall due anyway. Large gifts can also trigger inheritance tax problems. Move a major asset only after regulated advice.
What it costs, and how we vet
Vetted Wealth is free to you. We are an introducer, not an adviser: we match you with an independently vetted, FCA-regulated adviser and the firm pays us, so nothing changes on your side. Immediate needs annuities can only be arranged through a regulated adviser, and care-fee work is often a one-off fixed fee rather than an ongoing percentage: you are told the cost before you commit. See the full process here.
Because care advice is specialist, we look for advisers with genuine later-life credentials, not generalists, and we can introduce someone local, for example across Devon or Cornwall. This is information, not personal advice, and investments can fall as well as rise.
Key takeaways
- In England you self-fund above £23,250 of assessable capital; below it the council contributes, and capital under £14,250 is disregarded.
- Your home is not always counted: it is ignored for care at home, and while a spouse or certain relatives still live in it.
- The funding routes are assets, a deferred payment agreement, and a care fee annuity guaranteeing income for life.
- NHS Continuing Healthcare fully funds care where needs are primarily health-related, check it before spending down savings.
- Giving assets away to dodge fees is treated as deliberate deprivation and usually backfires; take regulated advice first.
Where we operate
Vetted Wealth is live across Devon and Cornwall, with further counties opening through 2026. Choose your county to see the towns we cover and the advisers we have vetted there.
Most people start on their county page and then pick their town. If you would rather skip that, use the form on this page, tell us where you are and we will match you with a vetted care fee planning specialist near you.
Popular towns
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This page is information, not personal advice. When you are ready, we will introduce you to an independently vetted, FCA-regulated adviser, free, and with no obligation. Investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invest.