Financial Assessments

Fairer Contributions Financial Assessment for Personal Budgets/Supported Living

What information do I need to give in a financial assessment?

Once we've assessed your care needs, we need to do a financial assessment to work out how much you may have to pay towards care services.

Someone from our Assessment and Benefits Team will contact you and you'll need to complete a form and provide photocopies of the following information, where applicable:

Income and savings


  • Statements of all bank accounts – including current, savings, ISAs – for the last 6 months
  • Any other investments - for example, shares, bonds, premium bonds
  • Award letter from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) showing breakdown of income received - for example, State Retirement Pension, Pension Credit
  • Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Employment Support Allowance
  • Correspondence about any other income - for example, private or occupational pensions

Please note: If you are one of a couple we can carry out either a single or a joint assessment to calculate what's best for you, in terms of how much you may have to pay.

Single assessment


  • Evidence of your own income and savings, together with any joint savings you may have.

Joint assessment


  • Evidence of all income and savings for both of you.

Expenditure


  • Details of any housing costs - for example, rent/mortgage/council tax payments.
  • Disability Related Expenditure (DRE) – where you incur additional expenditure due to your disability.

Please note: We can take DRE into account only if it was accepted in your care assessment as necessary, the costs are reasonable and you can provide receipts or other evidence. (We recognise that some expenditure cannot be evidenced with receipts - for example, additional laundry costs and wear and tear on clothing). The total we take into account cannot exceed the amount of disability care benefit you receive.

Property


  • Ownership documents for any property or land you own other than the property you currently live in.

Legal Authority


  • If someone acts for you as Appointee with the Department for Work and Pensions, as Attorney with Lasting Power of Attorney or as Deputy under Court of Protection – a  copy of the relevant document.

Alternative declaration


If you prefer not to disclose any information about your income, savings or assets, you'll be asked to sign a declaration stating that you agree to pay for all care services in full.

Failure to return the completed financial assessment form and supporting documents within 2 weeks of the date on the accompanying letter may result in you being charged the full cost of your care services.

Paying for non-residential care and residential care - what's the difference?

The main difference is that:

What happens after a financial assessment?

If you're not eligible for our financial support, you'll need to fund the full cost of your own care.

If you're eligible, we'll tell you how much the council will pay towards the cost of your care and support and how much you must pay yourself. Some people might not need to contribute anything. If you're entitled to a financial contribution from us, we'll provide it through a personal budget.

Our Adult Social Care Charging Policy aims to create a consistent and fair framework for charging adults who receive care and support services, after individual needs and financial situations have been assessed. For more about our charging policy - Charging Policy

What if I can't pay for an adult care charge


Under Section 17(3) of the Health and Social Services and Social Security Adjudications Act (1983), everyone has the right to ask us for a review of a charge which you've been given if you feel you can't pay it.

If you'd like us to review a charge which you can't pay, you should contact us on 0300 303 8886 or email on adult.care@rochdale.gov.uk

How do I arrange for my own care and support?

If you're not eligible for support from the council, or don't want to have a care assessment or financial assessment, you can visit Our Rochdale service directory for advice on how to make your own arrangements and to view Adult Care's preferred providers.  

Our Rochdale service directory