A care home bill can land on three different people: the council, the resident, or the relative who signed something at the door. Which one depends on who arranged the place and what the paperwork says.
When the council arranges the place, it owes the home
Where the local authority arranges a care home place, its contract is with the home. The statutory guidance says that if a top-up arrangement breaks down, the council would be liable for the fees until it has recovered the additional costs or made alternative arrangements (Care and support statutory guidance, Annex A, checked 28 October 2026).
The resident then pays the council what the financial assessment says they can afford. The two relationships are separate, which is why a home chasing a relative for a council-funded resident’s fee is usually chasing the wrong party.
Top-up fees: who is allowed to pay them
A top-up is the difference between what the council would pay for a suitable place and the price of the home the person has chosen. The council must arrange the preferred home provided a third party, or in certain circumstances the resident, is willing and able to meet that difference (Annex A, checked 28 October 2026).
The resident paying it themselves is the exception. The regulations say the council may not agree for the adult to pay the additional cost unless the 12-week property disregard applies to them, or they have entered a deferred payment agreement (Choice of Accommodation Regulations 2014, regulation 5, checked 1 November 2026).
In practice, then, a top-up usually comes from a son, daughter or other relative, and it is their own money, not the resident’s, that pays it.
The written agreement is not optional
A top-up has to be agreed in writing with the council. The regulations require the payer to enter a written agreement with the local authority in which they agree to pay the additional cost (Choice of Accommodation Regulations 2014, regulation 5, checked 1 November 2026).
It has to set out the amount, how often it is paid, who receives it and how it will be reviewed. It also has to cover what happens when things change: the consequences of stopping payments, the effect of a price increase, and the effect of a change in the payer’s own finances. Read those clauses before signing, because a care home fee can rise faster than the income paying the top-up.
If a top-up can no longer be paid
Stopping is possible, and it does not leave the resident unfunded overnight. The council stays liable to the home in the meantime. Its written agreement can say the person may be moved to accommodation that meets their needs and is affordable within their personal budget (Annex A, checked 26 October 2026).
A move is not automatic. The guidance ties it to what would be suitable for the person’s needs, which means a reassessment first. Tell the council as early as possible that the payments cannot continue, rather than falling into arrears, because arrears are what it will seek to recover from the payer.
A self-funder’s contract, and signing as guarantor
A resident who pays their own way contracts with the home directly, and it is the resident who owes the fee. The Competition and Markets Authority’s advice to care homes describes homes requiring someone to co-sign a self-funding resident’s contract as a guarantor, agreeing to be liable if the resident stops paying (CMA (PDF), checked 14 September 2026).
That liability has limits. The CMA says terms requiring a third party to guarantee all of the resident’s obligations, without limitation or further explanation, are unlikely to be fair under consumer law, and gives as an example a clause making the signer assume full responsibility for the resident’s obligations (CMA (PDF), checked 14 September 2026).
A term is more likely to be fair where the guarantor was told clearly beforehand what they were agreeing to, and gets reasonable notice of any overdue amount before the home takes payment from them. If you signed something broad at an admission meeting, ask the home in writing exactly what it says you guaranteed.
Fees after a death
This is the bill that arrives at the worst moment. The CMA’s advice is that fees after a death should run for no more than a reasonable short and fixed period from the day after the death, and that generally three days is sufficiently long (CMA (PDF), checked 14 September 2026).
Where a contract instead charges until the room is cleared of belongings, the CMA considers ten days an appropriate backstop (CMA (PDF), checked 14 September 2026). Fees should stop sooner if the room is taken by someone else, and money paid in advance beyond that period should be refunded promptly.
Top-ups follow the council’s period. The CMA expects the period for which a top-up must continue after a death to be the same as applies between the home and the local authority, so a relative cannot be asked to pay longer than the council does.
Deposits and upfront fees
Money paid on admission is not the home’s to keep without a reason. The CMA says a term requiring a resident to pay a wholly or partially non-refundable fee on signing may be unfair, and that a security deposit remains the resident’s money which the home must take care of (CMA (PDF), checked 14 September 2026).
Homes are expected to say upfront how much any deposit is, what risk it protects against, and how it will be refunded. Ask for that in writing before paying.
Where to take a dispute
Complain to the home or the council first. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman looks at adult social care, but only after the organisation’s own complaints process has run, and it cannot normally look at a complaint where more than 12 months have passed since you first knew about the problem (LGSCO, checked 1 November 2026).
Put the complaint in writing and name the term or charge you dispute. The ombudsman’s remit includes care paid for privately, not only care the council arranges.
This page covers England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own charging rules. For how the council works out what the resident pays in the first place, see paying for care, and for money spent or given away before care, deprivation of assets.