Adult Social Care Payments - Paying for care and support

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Closes 31 Mar 2025

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Introduction

When people living in Slough need adult social care, their care needs are established by means of an assessment to see whether they are entitled to the support under the Care Act. Slough Council must also assess their income to see how much they will contribute towards their care.  

Some people don’t pay anything, some people pay a contribution, and some people pay for all of their care (people are described as self-funding in these situations). If you are self-funding you will have income, property or assets over the threshold or savings over the current national guidance upper savings threshold of £23,250. The lower threshold is £14,250 currently and you will be expected to contribute if you have savings between the lower and upper threshold.  A person’s own home is not taken into account in the financial assessment when community services are being arranged, but would be for residential or nursing support.

There are also some services that the Council does not charge for. There are some people who are entitled to receive services regardless of income and this is intended to remain – e.g. people with health funded services or aftercare support provided under Section 117 of the Mental Health Act. People with Creutzfeldt- Jakobs Disease (CJD) and people who have reablement services for up to six weeks will also not be charged. 

People will not pay more than the service costs to provide. The council cannot charge for the work it does in carrying out assessments for care but can consider charging for administrative time taken to arrange the support and payments around this.

Slough Borough Council sets charges for community support, residential and nursing care, based on the national charging guidance. The national guidance on charging is followed by all Local Authorities.

The national guidance is in place to establish what people can afford to pay and ensures everyone under the savings thresholds has a set minimum income guarantee (MIG) per week. This is reviewed annually by the Government. All Councils must follow these principles and no-one must be left with less than the MIG.

What is being proposed?

The number of people coming forward for assistance with support has increased.  In common with most other councils, Slough is facing challenges in meeting the demand for support alongside the general cost of living challenges. 

Therefore, the council has to ensure that those who are deemed as able to afford to pay are doing so. This is not a simple issue and the council will consider all cases on their merits with the aim of not disadvantaging or putting vulnerable people at risk.

In order to provide for future needs it is necessary to take some difficult decisions.

In line with national guidance and with what most other councils are doing, there are a number of changes proposed within the council’s annual budget setting process for 2025-26. 

Currently the council arranges support and does not always receive the full cost of arranging this. This is not about raising profit but ensuring that the council is receiving a fair amount for what it arranges.  People who pay for their support are helping the council support the most vulnerable. 

It is likely that some people will be paying a bit more for their support in the community in future if the proposals are accepted. The council has not taken this issue lightly.  People who are paying will be assessed as to what they can afford and if they are paying they will be helping to support people who need care now and into the future.

The aim is that the revised adult social care charging arrangements will help support the community in a way which is fair and takes into account the actual costs incurred by the council and is based on those who can pay doing so. 

The proposals are :

Asking people who have over £23,250 in savings or assets to pay when the council arranges support for them.

Using the national guidance rates for the minimum income guarantee calculations.

Increasing the charge for the council arranging a loan known as a "deferred payment".

Charging for the administration time where a person has their money managed by the Council being their "Appointee",

 

1. If you are responding on behalf of an organisation, please enter it here.
2. Do you think it is fair for the council to ask for some money to cover the costs of arranging support for people who have over £23,250 in savings, income, property or assets and pay for their own support?

Deferred Payments

If someone needs care and support services in a residential or nursing home, they are assessed as to whether they can pay this charge. If they own their own property, they may be assessed as being able to pay for the placement themselves but lack the capital initially to pay this. A deferred payment is a type of loan from the council who will pay the fees to the care home on their behalf until the property is sold. The council may have to organise the legal side of the sale and contact the land registry or solicitors to carry out the sale. The house may also not sell immediately so sometimes the council pays the fees for years before the person is able to repay the council the fees and the council manages the payments for care during this time.

3. Use this space if you have any comments about revised changes to deferred payment charges (optional)
There is a limit of 1000 characters
4. Do you understand the Minimum Income Guarantee ?

Minimum Income Guarantee

You may like to look at the easy read version to understand more about this.

People receiving local authority-arranged care and support other than in a care home need to retain a certain level of income to cover their living costs. Charges must not reduce people’s income below a certain amount - this is a weekly amount and is known as the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG). The Council is proposing using the national rates for the Minimum Income Guarantee as per the national guidance which means it will remove the current 25% buffer (additional amount) for people who qualify for this. 

5. Do you think it is fair that the buffer should be removed and national guidance applied (i.e. follow the national guidance)?
6. Use this space if you have any comments about the minimum income guarantee rates being applied (optional).
There is a limit of 1000 characters
7. Do you think that it is fair for the council to recover the costs for helping someone manage their money and bills under appointee-ship?

Where a person can no longer manage their finances and has no reliable family member to do this, the council may become their appointee and support them managing their bills. An appointee is a person or organisation who has been given the legal right to manage someone else’s benefits. This may involve collection of the person’s pension, paying their bills, and issuing them with day-to-day finances. It may involve sorting out their debts or housing issues if they are behind with rent or mortgages. If there is no one else, the council can take this role on. It can involve contacting court representatives or landlords amongst many other things. 

8. Use this space if you have any comments about appointee-ship charges (optional).
There is a limit of 1000 characters