Charges for non-residential care services

Our charging policy is set out below. It is important that you provide us with up to date financial information so that you are charged the correct amount.

See our charging policy for non-residential care services (PDF 796kb).

Services

We will assess you for a charge if you:

• receive care at home
• receive personal care
• receive personal care with a bathing service
• go to a day centre
• attend day activities as part of your care plan
• receive direct payments
• receive supporting people services, but do not receive housing benefit
• receive non-residential respite care as part of a personal budget

You will pay separately for:

• meals on wheels
• meals at luncheon clubs
• meals at day centres

The following services are free:

• reablement service for up to six weeks
• transport services
• Telecare services
• equipment
• carers’ services

Some people are exempt from charges

• if you receive mental health services (Section 117)
• if you are a carer and you receive carers services, you will not be charged for this service
• if you are a sufferer of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)

Assessment of charges

If you receive a service we charge for, we will ask you to fill in and return a financial assessment form (CA1).

• financial assessment form

This is important as your charge will depend on the information you give us on this form.

The form has questions about your pensions, earnings, benefits, savings and essential costs such as rent, council tax and water rates.

If you have difficulty filling in all parts of the form, you can ask us to help you by contacting us on 020 8356 4738.

Working out your charge

We will work out your charge from the information you give us, and then write to tell you your weekly charge. We will explain how we have worked out your charge.

To do this, we will look at your total income first. This will include some types of benefits and may include an amount from your savings and other assets – including shares and bonds.

We will not include the value of the property you live in but we may include other properties you own in this country or abroad.

Weekly income

We will need to ask you about all your weekly income.

We will ignore some of your weekly income and benefits in the calculation, such as:

• any earnings
• disability living allowance personal
• independence payments (PIP) (the mobility component)
• war pensions and war reparation payments
• housing benefits
• council tax reduction
• child benefit
• payments from the independent living fund
• Christmas bonus payments
• social fund payments
• winter fuel payments
• savings credit – pension credit

Income we take account of includes:

• income support
• employment and support allowance
• retirement pension
• pension credit – guarantee credit
• occupational pensions
• attendance allowance
• disability living allowance (care component), personal independence payment
• incapacity benefit

Savings and assets 2024/25

Up to £14,250 we will not take account of your savings.

• between £14,250 and £23,250 – we will add £1 for every £250 to your accountable income
• above £23,250 we will ask you to pay the full charge which will be the cost of your care or £250 per week, whichever is lower

Your essential living costs

We will take into account your essential living costs when we work out your care charge.

These may be expenses such as:

• rent not covered by housing benefit
• council tax not covered by council tax reduction
• water rates
• mortgages
• service charges

Disability benefits

Disability benefits are attendance allowance, disability living allowance (care component), personal independence payment, severe disability premium paid with income support and pension credit.

If you have disability costs more than the equivalent of 25% of your disability benefit, then we will need you to tell us about your disability related expenditure.

Extra expenses due to your disability

In your care charging assessment we have already made some allowance for extra expenses you may incur due to your disability. If you receive disability living allowance (care component), PIP or attendance allowance, we ignore 25% of this income in the assessment.

For example if you receive Disability Living Allowance middle rate of £72.65 per week, we ignore 25% or £18.16 in the assessment. If you spend more than £18.16 per week on disability-related items we need to take this into account.

This may include the following:

• additional laundry costs due to disability
• special dietary needs
• privately arranged care not met by the Council
• purchase and maintenance of special equipment
• special clothing purchases

We will ask for evidence of the extra spending.

When we have agreed the extra costs with you, we will take account of these when we work out your charge for care at home.

If you would like us to carry out a further review of your disability related expenditure contact the Care Charging Team. The contact details are found at the bottom of this page. You need to request a review (CA3) form.

Protected income to live on

The Department of Health sets new minimum income guarantee levels each April.

You will not pay a charge if your income is below these levels.

For 2024/25 it is set at:

• under 60 years of age = £183.25 per week
• over 60 years of age = £228.70 per week

Assessable income for your charge

To work out your charge for care at home, we will first look at:

• your income
• the income from your savings and other assets

We will then take away from this:

• your spending on essential items
• income that we have said we will ignore
• the protected income.

The amount that you are left with after these items have been taken away from your income is called your ‘assessable income’.

The assessable income is then charged as follows.

• disability income – charged at 75%
• other income – charged at 75%

If you do not have assessable income, we will not ask you to pay for the services you receive.

We then compare the charge for care at home with the costs of providing the service. We will not charge you more than the cost of providing the service.

Personal budgets

A personal budget is the amount of money the Council has assessed is necessary to spend in order to meet someone’s eligible social care needs.

The proportion of a total personal budget which is chargeable is 92%.

This means that if your weekly personal budget is £100 per week, the maximum you might pay is £92 per week. If your amount of assessed available income is lower than £92 per week, you will be asked to pay the lower amount.

Advice and assistance

If you are in receipt of care services from the Council, we offer you assistance with completing the financial assessment form and with claiming benefits to maximise your income. If you would like a home visit from our welfare benefits officer, please contact the Care Charging Team.

We can help you to access a services that offer information and advice on a range of financial needs including debt, paying for care, maximising income and planning for later life. Our staff may provide advice directly or can help you to access specialist services including independent financial advice.

Review and appeals procedure

If you are still not satisfied, you can appeal against the charge, giving your reasons for the appeal.

The appeal panel will look at your appeal and send you a decision within 28 days.

How to make a complaint

First you should contact:

Care Charging Manager
London Borough of Hackney
Hackney Service Centre
1 Hillman Street
Hackney E8 1DY
Tel: 020 8356 4738
Email: carecharges@hackney.gov.uk

If you are still not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you can make an adult social care complaint.

Frequently asked questions