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Going Into A Residential Or Nursing Home IF YOUR ASSETS ARE OVER £19,500 If a person needing care has assets of £19,500 or more, they will not be entitled to help towards residential home costs.  The £19,500 can include your home* and other assets such as your bank and building society accounts, other savings and investments, gifts that you may have made and other property that you may own.  In terms of your personal possessions, these may well be excluded from the calculation unless the local authority think that you bought them just to reduce your other assets.  In this situation, they may include some of your personal possessions.  If you need nursing care, the amount paid for by the local authority depends on which band you fall into.  Visit the asset bands now . If you have less than £19,500 in assets then the local authority is obliged to help towards residential home costs.   IF YOUR ASSETS ARE BETWEEN £12,000 AND £19,500 If your assets are between £12,000 and £19,500 you may be required to pay some extra income to the local authority because of the amount of assets you have.  The extra amount you will have to pay is based on what is called "a statutory tariff income charge".  For every £250 over £12,000 that you have in assets you will be required to pay an extra £1 towards the cost of your care.  This works up to the £19,500 limit where you will be required to pay the full charge. IF YOUR ASSETS ARE LESS THAN £12,000 If you have £12,000 or less, all of your income (which includes private pensions and* state benefits) will have to be given to the local authority.  You will be able to keep a small amount of money each week for personal spending but this is not a large sum and is generally under £17.50 per week (although other additions to this figure may be allowed).  You cannot use this money to top up your care costs.  The local authority will then make up the difference in paying for your residential or nursing home costs.                                       Whether or not you could receive help from the local authority depends on the amount of your assets. * For the first three months from admission to care, the value of a resident's home will be disregarded from the means test. What does Nursing Care or Residential Care Cost?