The care fees band estimator
Who pays for care in England turns on two capital limits and a few rules about the home. Answer five questions and this tells you which band the council would put you in, whether the home counts, and whether a deferred payment agreement must be offered. It never states a fee, because nobody official does.
Worked out on your device. Nothing is sent anywhere.
What it decides, and from where
The band comes from the capital limits in the 2026 to 2027 charging circular, which are unchanged this year. The rules on the home come from Annex B of the Care and Support Statutory Guidance: the people whose presence means the home is disregarded, and the 12-week disregard on a permanent admission. The deferred payment duty is from chapter 9 of the same guidance. Our paying for care page sets each rule out with its source.
What it will not do
It will not put a pound figure on care, because no official source does. It will not assess income, which the council does line by line with allowances this tool does not know. It does not value the home. And it describes England; the other UK nations charge for care under their own rules.
Common questions
Does this tell me what a care home will cost?
No, and it is built not to. No official body publishes an average fee, and the council's financial assessment sets the actual contribution. What the guidance does publish is the band, the tariff between the limits, the rules on the home and the deferred payment duty, and those are what it reports, each with its source.
What are the bands?
Three, from the 2026 to 2027 charging circular for England. Above £23,250 in capital, the full cost. Between £14,250 and £23,250, what income allows plus £1 a week for every £250 of capital above £14,250. Below £14,250, income only. Whether the home counts as capital depends on who lives in it and where the care is.
Why does it ask who lives in the home?
Because the home must be disregarded while a spouse or partner who is not estranged, a lone parent who is the estranged partner, a relative aged 60 or over, an incapacitated relative or a child under 18 lives there as their main home. Where nobody in those groups does, it is disregarded for 12 weeks and counted after that.
Is anything I enter stored?
No. The answers stay in your browser, nothing is transmitted or logged, and closing the tab discards them. There is no account and no email box. The result is a band, a rule or two and a link to the page that explains them.
If money has been given away before care was needed, the council can treat it as if it were still there. Our deprivation of assets page covers that rule, and NHS continuing healthcare is the route where none of this applies.