It is one of the first questions families ask us, and it deserves a straight answer: does the council pay for care at home? Sometimes yes, sometimes in part, and sometimes not at all. Which of those applies to your family depends on two separate assessments, and a great many people never ask for either because they assume they will not qualify. This guide explains how it works in Kent, what the thresholds are, and how to get the process started.
The short answer: does the council pay for care at home?
Kent County Council may pay for some or all of your care at home if two things are true. First, a care needs assessment finds that your needs are eligible. Second, a financial assessment finds that your capital and income are below the thresholds set nationally.
These are separate tests, done in that order, and the first one is not means-tested. Everyone has the right to a care needs assessment, whatever their savings. That matters, because the assessment itself is useful even if you end up paying for your own care.
Step one: the care needs assessment
The care needs assessment is free, it is a legal right under the Care Act 2014, and you do not have to be in crisis to ask for one. You can start the request through GOV.UK or directly with the council. A social care practitioner will talk to the person concerned, usually at home, about what daily life is actually like: getting up, washing and dressing, preparing meals, managing medication, getting out of the house, keeping the home safe, and maintaining relationships.
In Kent, you can request one by calling adult social care on 03000 41 61 61, Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm, or by completing the social care enquiry form on the Kent County Council website. Kent also sets out its care needs assessment process in full. If your relative lives on the other side of the border, in Bexley, Sidcup or Erith, the request goes to the London Borough of Bexley instead.
Two practical tips. Ask for the assessment in the person’s own name, and be there for it if you can. And be honest on the worst days rather than the best ones. People often present far better in a one-hour visit than they manage at four in the morning, and a carefully cheerful account can produce an assessment that does not reflect the real position.
What makes needs “eligible”
Eligibility is set nationally, not locally, so the test is the same in Dartford as it is anywhere in England. Broadly, three conditions have to be met:
- The needs arise from a physical or mental impairment or illness.
- As a result, the person cannot achieve two or more specified everyday outcomes.
- Because of that, there is, or is likely to be, a significant impact on their wellbeing.
The everyday outcomes include managing nutrition, maintaining personal hygiene, managing toilet needs, dressing appropriately, moving safely around the home, keeping the home clean and safe, maintaining family and personal relationships, using community facilities, and looking after any dependants. Someone counts as unable to achieve an outcome not only when they cannot do it at all, but also when doing it causes pain or distress, takes significantly longer than it should, or puts them or someone else at risk.
That last point is where many families wrongly rule themselves out. A parent who can still get washed, but only by holding the basin and taking forty minutes over it, is not managing that outcome in the way the guidance means.
Step two: the financial assessment
If the needs are eligible, the council then looks at what you can afford to contribute. The capital thresholds for 2026 to 2027 are unchanged from previous years:
- Capital above £23,250 — you pay the full cost of your care. You are still entitled to the needs assessment, and you can still ask the council to arrange the care for you.
- Capital between £14,250 and £23,250 — you contribute from income, plus an assumed “tariff” income of £1 a week for every £250 of capital above the lower limit.
- Capital below £14,250 — your savings are left out of the calculation altogether and only your income is considered.
The single most important thing to know about care at home is this: the value of the home you live in is not counted. Kent County Council states it plainly. The fear that the house will be taken to pay for care belongs to residential care, and even there the rules are more nuanced than the rumours suggest. For care delivered in your own home, the house is disregarded.
On the income side, the council works out what you can contribute after leaving you with the Minimum Income Guarantee, a protected weekly amount for living costs that is reset each April. Kent also allows a standard weekly amount for disability-related expenditure, and you can ask for more than the standard figure if you can evidence higher costs, such as extra laundry, heating or incontinence supplies. That request is worth making; it is routinely left unclaimed.
What “the council pays” actually means
If you qualify, the council sets a personal budget: the amount it considers sufficient to meet your eligible needs. That budget can be delivered in two ways.
The council can commission the care itself, choosing from providers it holds contracts with. Or it can pay you a direct payment, and you choose and arrange the care yourself. Direct payments are the route most families prefer once they understand them, because they let you pick the provider, keep continuity of carers, and decide how the hours are used. If the provider you want charges more than the council’s rate, you or a third party can usually top up the difference.
Mission Healthcare works with families on direct payments as well as those funding care privately, so if you are waiting on an assessment you are not committing yourself to a particular route by talking to us.
Help that is not means-tested
Several things sit outside the means test entirely, and they are often missed:
- Reablement and intermediate care. Short-term support to help someone regain independence, typically after a hospital stay, is free for up to six weeks.
- NHS Continuing Healthcare. Where someone’s needs are primarily health needs rather than social care needs, the NHS funds the whole package, wherever the care is delivered. The assessment is demanding and the bar is high, but it is free of any means test and worth pursuing where the case is strong.
- Attendance Allowance. A non-means-tested benefit for people over State Pension age who need help with personal care or supervision. Savings and income do not affect the claim, although the council can count it as income in the financial assessment for care charges.
- A carer’s assessment. If you are the one providing the care, you have your own right to an assessment and to support in your own name.
- Equipment and minor adaptations. Aids and small adaptations up to a set value are provided free of charge.
If you are likely to pay for your own care
Most families who come to us in Dartford are self-funding, at least at the start. If your parent’s savings are above £23,250, it is still worth having the needs assessment, for three reasons. It gives you an independent professional view of what support is actually required. It gets your relative known to the local authority before a crisis. And it starts the clock on the point in the future when capital may fall below the threshold, at which stage the council takes over some of the cost.
It is also worth reading our guide to what home care actually costs in Dartford and Kent, so you can see how a weekly budget compares with the alternatives.
How long does it take, and what should you do meanwhile?
Waiting times vary, and an urgent situation is prioritised. Ask what the expected wait is when you make the request, and say clearly if the situation is unsafe. Councils can and do put urgent support in place while a full assessment is arranged.
Many families arrange a small amount of private care in the meantime, often a morning visit, and adjust it once the assessment is complete. Starting privately does not affect an application, and it does not commit you to anything long term. If you are not sure whether care is needed yet, our guide to the signs an elderly parent may need help at home is a good place to start.
Where we can help
We are a nurse-led, CQC-registered provider based in Dartford, supporting families across north Kent with home care, domiciliary care visits, respite and live-in care. We cannot decide your funding, but we can talk you through what the assessment is likely to cover, what level of support your situation usually calls for, and what it would cost, so you go into the process knowing what you are looking at.
Call +44 7470 367 720, email admin@missionhealthcare.co.uk, or send us a message and we will call you back.
Figures are correct at September 2026 and apply to England. Capital limits, the Minimum Income Guarantee and disability-related expenditure allowances are reviewed each April. Always confirm your own position with Kent County Council, the London Borough of Bexley, or an independent financial adviser regulated for later-life advice. This article is general information, not financial or legal advice.
