A guide to care homes and support for older people

If you are considering a care home

Introduction

Choosing a care home is a big decision. This guide helps you understand what to think about first, including the different types of care available and the support that might help you stay independent at home.

If you decide a care home is right for you or someone you support, the guide also explains the next steps — from arranging assessments and understanding costs to choosing a home that meets your needs.

Before you start thinking about moving into a care home – which can be a significant and often costly step – it’s worth exploring the many ways you can receive care and support while continuing to live well at home.

Talk with family, friends, GPs and other professionals about your needs – having honest conversations with the people close to you can really help you get the right care and support.

Let the relevant people know what you find difficult and how they can help you stay safe and well in your own home. Those you seek support from, including professionals may suggest that you move into a care home, however, this doesn’t necessarily have to be your first or only option.

With the right help, you may be able to continue living comfortably and independently in your own home.

Explore the support that can help you stay at home

Consider equipment, adaptations, or technology enabled care and support (TECS). See support at home for more details.

Supported living or extra care housing are schemes that can also help you to remain at living at home.

You can find out what support, equipment or services could help you live safely and well at home by completing our self-help tool.

Your options for care

Making the right decision will depend on your health needs, the level of care required, and personal preference.

Understanding these differences is crucial for making an informed decision that ensure your wellbeing and comfort. Each option offers compassionate care tailored to your needs and the right choice will vary based on your specific circumstances.

Staying at home with support

Consider equipment, adaptations, or technology enabled care and support (TECS). See support at home for more details.

Supported living or extra care housing are schemes that can also help you to remain at living at home.

You can find out what support, equipment or services could help you live safely and well at home by completing our self-help tool.

Residential care

Residential care homes are designed for people who can no longer manage safely or comfortably at home. They provide accommodation, meals, and personal care such as help with washing, dressing, and medication.

Nursing care

Nursing care homes are suitable for people who need 24/7 access to registered nursing care and oversight.

If you have complex needs that cannot be met with support in your own home, you may need to consider a nursing home.

Some homes are dual registered, meaning they can offer both residential and nursing care in the same setting. This can be particularly helpful if your needs change over time, as you may be able to remain in the same home while receiving the right level of support.

Many care homes offer a range of placement options, including short-term stays, such as respite (sometimes known as replacement care), long-term care, or permanent accommodation. 

Health needs vs social care needs

Health‑related needs arise from a medical condition and require treatment, supervision or monitoring from a nurse or other health professional.

Social care needs relate to daily living, independence, wellbeing and safety. This is support with everyday tasks rather than medical treatment.

If your needs are mostly health‑based, you may qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC), which can fund the full cost of care.

How to arrange care

Whether you are looking for support to stay at home or if you’ve considered all other support options and think a care home may be the right choice for you, a relative, or someone you care for, we can arrange a free social care needs assessment to identify your needs and help you understand what support would be most appropriate.

Request a needs assessment

The assessment process begins with a simple self‑help tool that looks at your needs and abilities and gives information about local services that may help. If the tool suggests you may need further support, you can complete an online self‑assessment to outline your needs, how they affect your wellbeing, and the outcomes you want to achieve.

Based on this, we will contact you to explain the next steps and, where needs are more complex, carry out a full care and support needs assessment. The full assessment focuses on your wellbeing, goals, and support network, and may involve joint work with other organisations such as the NHS.

Find out more and complete our self-help tool.

Alternatively, you can request an assessment by contacting Care Direct on 0345 155 1007.

Financial assessment

If we carry out a Care Act assessment, you’ll also have a financial assessment. This looks at your income and savings to work out how much you may need to pay towards your care. Find out more about financial assessments.

Arranging your care directly: Self‑funding

Some people have to pay the full cost of care – this is called self‑funding.

We will look at your savings to decide if you must pay for your own care. If you are a self funder, you usually arrange your care home place yourself and choose any home that meets your needs and fits your budget. There are a few exceptions, such as when you temporarily cannot access your money.

You can be a self-funder even if your savings are below the threshold. For example, if your income, such as a large pension, is enough to cover the care home fees, you will still be treated as a self funder.

How to choose a care home

Care homes are expected to:

  • respect your hopes, goals and individual preferences
  • promote choice, control and dignity in everyday life
  • support you to enjoy the activities you want to, pursue your interests, and stay connected with friends, family and others
  • enable you to access local services, activities and community life wherever possible

The CQC is responsible for regulating and inspecting care homes to see if they meet the essential standards of quality and safety. You can find care home reports and ratings on the CQC website.

  • If the care home is being funded by Devon County Council

    If your placement is funded by Devon County Council, the care home you choose must meet all four of the following requirements. The home must:

    We can only fund homes that are using the older persons’ care home fee model. If you choose a more expensive home, you may still go there – but there will need to be a top-up payment to cover the difference. This usually needs to be paid by a third party and is in addition to your own assessed contribution.

    This is different to any additional top up that might be paid to the home that is not simply to cover the cost of care, for example, for additional facilities such as a sea view.

    More information can also be found in the Choice in Care Policy.

    Top‑up payments

    A top‑up payment is an extra payment made when you choose a home that costs more than the amount we normally pay.

    A top‑up might give you access to:

    • a preferred location
    • extra facilities or home features

    It’s important to know that:

    • a suitable care home within DCC’s identified fee level must also be available to you
    • you should never feel pushed into choosing a more expensive home
    • top‑ups are usually paid by a third party (family, friend, or other supporter), not the person receiving care
    • the top-up must be paid for the duration of the stay within that care home

    You should always have a suitable option and we must offer you at least one care home that:

    You can then choose to: accept that placement or choose a different home and arrange a top‑up if needed.

    The aim is to give you choice; while ensuring you have access to a safe, suitable, affordable placement.

    Remember – the decision is yours. You have rights and options and you should never feel rushed or pressured.

    More information about top-up payments.

  • If you are funding and arranging your own care

    You should consider the following points before choosing a home if you are funding and arranging your own care:

    • When choosing a care provider or care home, prepare by thinking about what you want to ask and what personal lifestyle needs matter for your wellbeing.
    • Review your finances so you understand what you can comfortably afford and how long your funds will last.
    • Speak with other families for recommendations, keeping in mind that preferences vary.
    • Consider the home’s distance from family and how easy it is to visit.
    • Visit the care home yourself to get a sense of the staff, residents, and environment.
    • Compare several homes to see which services meet your needs best.
    • Make your decision based on what feels safe, comfortable, and financially sustainable for the long term.
    • Read websites and reviews to gather more insight.

    Compare facilities, cost, reviews and ratings

    Independent care‑home directory websites can help you browse care homes by area and view basic details, photos, reviews and provider‑set prices. These sites are not created or maintained by Devon County Council. You may find the CareFind website useful as a starting point.

    Remember to:

    • treat directories as a starting point, not a definitive list
    • confirm details directly with the care home
    • check the latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection report on the official CQC website

    We do not verify or guarantee the accuracy of the information shown on these websites. Details such as vacancies, fees, facilities and ratings may be out of date.

    Prices shown online may not reflect Devon County Council’s contracted rates.

Good care should support you to live a meaningful life, even though your needs may increase. Before you move into a care home, the home must give you a written contract. This contract has to meet CQC rules and follow Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) consumer‑protection guidelines. This is to make sure the terms are fair and don’t put you at a disadvantage.

How much it will cost

You are responsible for understanding your finances and how long they will last. To enable you to make the best decision, it is important that you make time to speak with your care providers regarding your financial affairs.

How your savings and assets affect what you pay

If you have £23,250 or more, the Council may expect you to arrange and directly fund your own care.

If your total savings are below £23,250 and you have no property or if your property is disregarded from the financial assessment, you will still contribute towards your care, but you may be entitled to receive funding assistance from the Council, subject to a financial assessment.

If your savings or assets are below £14,250, you will still need to contribute towards your care from your income as determined by a financial assessment. However, your savings and assets are not usually taken into account.

More information is available in our factsheet about paying for residential and nursing care and at GOV.UK: Care and support statutory guidance.

What information is needed for a financial assessment

We will contact you to work out how much you have to pay towards your care services. More information about what we will ask you during a financial assessment.

Deferred payment agreements

A deferred payment agreement (DPA) is an arrangement with Devon County Council to pay your care home fees on your behalf, and you repay the money later, typically from the sale of your home or your estate after death.

This scheme is designed for people entering long-term residential care and is not available for short-term or respite care. We place a legal charge on your property to secure repayment, which is removed once the debt is cleared.

Before applying for DPA, we will provide you with information about how the arrangement works. We also strongly recommend that you seek independent financial and legal advice to explore all available options.

DPAs are available to some people receiving care in a residential or nursing home (or sometimes in supported living, where that person has an interest in a property).

You may be offered a DPA if you:

  • live in a residential or nursing care home
  • have savings and investments below the upper capital limit (excluding the value of your home)
  • have the value of your home included in your financial assessment
  • own your home and have enough equity to cover the deferred costs

If a DPA is suitable, the option will be discussed with you during your financial assessment. The Client Financial Services Team will support you with the application, and the agreement is usually finalised within 12 weeks of you moving into the care home. Find out more about deferred payment agreements.

What happens if you run out of money while living in a care home

If this happens, the first thing we’ll do is carry out a Care Act assessment to see if you are eligible for social care help. We’ll also do a financial assessment to determine how much you will be required to pay toward the cost of your placement. You may need to move to a different care home that can meet your needs at the Local Authority rate. Care providers should talk with you and your family as early as possible about your longer-term care arrangements.

To try to ensure you can stay in the home you choose, avoid unexpected moves and manage the transition to Council support more smoothly, should this happen later down the line, we advise choosing a care home that you can afford for a minimum of at least two years based on your current financial situation. It is important to forward plan so you can feel confident about your future care.

If you currently pay for your own care and your savings reduce to the level where you may qualify for Council funding, we might not be able to pay the same weekly fee that you have been paying privately.

Devon County Council’s older persons’ care home fee model

On 10 November 2025, Devon County Council introduced a new way of calculating how much it pays toward care‑home placements. Fees are now more consistent and more closely linked to the level of care a person needs.

  • Key information about the older persons’ care home fee model

    Who it applies to

    The model applies to people:

    • usually aged 65+ (and some under 65 whose needs suit an older persons’ care home)
    • living in older persons residential or nursing homes
    • whose care is fully or partly funded by Devon County Council

    It will also apply in future if someone currently paying for their own care later becomes eligible for council funding.

    Devon County Council fee rates 2025/26

    Our current residential and nursing care rates are available here.

    The level that most closely matches your needs determines which fee level we will use to calculate our contribution.

    These levels include the total weekly cost of nursing care (for nursing placements), including the NHS contribution known as NHS-funded nursing care (FNC).

    FNC is a weekly payment made by the NHS directly to the nursing home to cover the nursing part of someone’s care – things like monitoring health conditions or providing clinical support from a registered nurse. FNC helps reduce the overall cost but does not cover accommodation, meals, or personal care.

    When bespoke needs require a higher fee

    Sometimes a person’s needs don’t fit neatly into one care‑level because they have much higher or more complex needs in several areas such as continence, night-time and medication needs.

    When this happens, we may agree a bespoke fee with a care home. This means the council set a personalised amount that reflects the person’s specific needs.

Support

Supporting people and families to make informed choices 

Devon County Council recognises how important it is for people and their families to have access to clear, reliable information. This helps everyone understand the care options available and make confident, informed decisions about later life. 

Choosing a care home is a significant moment. We are committed to working closely with care providers to ensure that people can: 

  • understand all their options 
  • feel confident about the quality of care available 
  • access support that meets their needs now and in the future 

Support for carers 

If you look after or support someone who could not manage without your help, support is available for you too. 

Our commitment to carers is simple: ‘In everything we do, we will take carers into account.‘

You can find help, information and advice here: 

Support for older people 

Age UK supports older people across Devon to improve their wellbeing, maintain independence and take positive steps in later life.

More information about finding, choosing and funding a care home: 

Accessibility 

If you require any of the above information in an alternative format, it can be provided on request. Please email socialcarebusinessrelations-mailbox@devon.gov.uk for the attention of OP Care with Accommodation Team.