Will I be charged for services?

Community care assessments and carer's assessments are free. However, the social work department can charge for some community care services and, they have to charge for long term residential care. 

As a result of this, the person you care for is likely to be asked questions about their money e.g. wages, pensions, savings or benefits. They do not have to give this information but the social work department will assume they can pay the full cost if they do not.

In general, for home care services, only the person for whom the service is to be provided should be asked to pay. However, the social work department may take the income of any partner into account when deciding whether or not to charge for services. Therefore, it is likely that if you are caring for your partner, your finances may betaken into account when deciding whether or not s/he will be asked to pay for services.

If the person you care for is asked to pay for services, you should ask the social work department for details of their charging policy and an explanation of how they calculated the charges. There are no national guidelines on charging and rates will vary from area to area. However, all social work departments must follow these points:

• The charges must be 'reasonable'
• The social work department should only charge what people can afford.
• No-one should be caused hardship, or denied a service they need because they cannot pay.

The social work department should consider the person's everyday needs, including any extra costs as a result of disability or ill health.  If you can show that a charge would cause hardship, the social work department must consider reducing or dropping them. Benefit income may be taken into account except for the Disability Living Allowance mobility component.

If you or the person you are caring for is unhappy with the amount being charged for the services you should consider making a complaint to the social work department.

Free personal care for older people
 

In Scotland, older people aged 65 or over receive free personal care.  If the person you are for is aged 65 or over and lives in the community, they will not have to pay for the personal care element of any services they are assessed as needing and/or currently receive.

However, they will may still need to make a contribution towards non-personal care such asday care, home helps, lunch clubs, meals on wheels, community alarms and help with shopping and housework.