Nursing Home Fees & Funding

Guide to Care Home Costs

When you’re weighing up the options and deciding what care home is the best fit for a family member, it can be stressful and there’s a lot of information to digest.

You might find yourself asking – and perhaps struggling to find the answers to – questions like:

“What is the weekly cost of a care home in Scotland?”

“Do nursing homes cost more than residential homes?”

“Is there funding in Scotland for care home costs?”

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to find the answers to these questions and understand the cost of care, so we’ve put together a guide with all the information you need to know. You can find the answers to these questions on this page, or download our guide in PDF format to read later or to share easily with loved ones via the link below.

DOWNLOAD OUR GUIDE TO FEES

CLICK FOR RESIDENT’S £400 PAYMENT CLAIM TOWARDS INCREASED UTILITY COSTS

Randolph Hill Nursing Homes Group Costs

The weekly cost for one of our standard rooms here at the Randolph Hill Group is between £1,767 and £1,966*, rising to between £2,312 and £2,555* for our range of deluxe rooms. Other providers charge different fees, both higher and lower.

(*Figures correct as of April 2024 – please contact us and we’ll be able to discuss fees based on individual needs.)

The difference in price is dependent on your choice of home, and the room type you choose. For example, significantly larger rooms, or rooms with access to the garden or patio, have higher rates. The price is never affected by the level of care, which is consistently high in all of our homes.

Our respite fee for a minimum charge of one week is £2,758 for Randolph Hill, Dunblane, and is also available at Ashley Court in Morningside, Kirk Lane in Livingston, and Muirfield in Gullane, for £2,905 per week.

What do those costs cover? We provide 24/7 nursing care along with the highest quality accommodation and facilities. Fully-furnished ensuite bedrooms, meals and essentials like electricity, a TV, phone, internet and laundry service are included in the cost of our care homes. We also offer a full timetable of social activities in all of our homes and access to facilities which help our residents feel their best, like hairdressing and minibus trips.

Randolph Hill is a group of nursing homes and there can be a difference in price between care homes and nursing homes. Residential care homes provide accommodation and personal care for people who need extra support in their daily lives but there may not be nursing services offered.

The higher cost of residential nursing home care reflects the fact that more specialised care is provided by registered nurses, and it is tailored to those with specific medical requirements. Some specialist care for dementia patients can be even higher.

The Difference Between Council Funded and Private Funded (Sometimes Called Self- Funded)

Our nursing home fees are payable by the individual, but you may be eligible for help depending on your circumstances. If you are privately funded, you have control to secure your first choice of care depending on your preferences. Not all available rooms in residential homes are available to social work funded residents, so you may have less choice and availability.

To be council funded means that the council will pay the cost of the care or nursing home above what you can afford to pay. The council will split the bill, with a portion being sent to you to pay and the balance paid by the council. Normally you would be eligible for council funding if you have less than £35,000 in capital and assets and also if your income is less than £948.59 per week. Any application will depend on other circumstances and should be discussed with your social worker. Figures correct for 2024/25. Please refer to our Guide for Council Funding.

If you are not council funded, you will be privately funded and you will be responsible for the full amount of any fees.

However, most people are eligible to receive free personal and/or nursing care. Again this should be discussed with your social worker but free personal care amounts to £248.70 per week and free nursing care amounts to £111.90 per week, normally totalling £360.60 per week. This would usually be paid directly to the home. If you are privately funded and eligible for the basic State Pension, you will continue to receive this payment.

Private Funding for Nursing Home Costs

A Randolph Hill private funded resident is someone who has funds and/or assets, including property, in excess of the current threshold of £35,000.

If you, or the care-receiver, is privately funding nursing home costs, there are some considerations and options.

It is important that the provision of care in the chosen Randolph Hill Nursing Home is affordable to you. We therefore ask that, prior to arrival, you complete a simple form regarding your finances to check that you can meet the criteria to fund two to three years, although we will certainly look at some exceptions to this on their own merit.

We appreciate that your financial circumstances can of course alter over time and this is perfectly normal. We do ask though that you notify us as soon as possible where you can no longer afford to privately fund your nursing home costs. We can assure you that residents may continue to live in the same home but a financial assessment for council funding would commence.

Capital, Income and Property

While some people are able to fund care or nursing home fees from income, it is also very common to fund fees from assets such as Premium Bonds, stocks and shares, savings, or from the sale of your house. If you don’t want to put your property on the market, you could rent it out instead to make additional income and avoid using savings. Equity Release may also be an option to raise funds derived from the value of an owned property. Please take independent financial advice regarding this. The local council must however disregard the value of your home when your partner or any other relative who is over 60 or incapacitated still lives there.

12- Week Disregard Scheme and Deferred Payment Agreements

It is not unusual for private residents to move into a care or nursing home while they still have finances to sort out, often the sale of a property, and two council funded schemes exist to enable that to happen should other assets not be immediately available. These are the 12-week Disregard Scheme and Interim or Deferred Payment.

12-Week Disregard Scheme

If you are moving into a care or nursing home permanently, you may be entitled to a 12 week disregard scheme. Whilst the residential home includes the value of all of your assets in your financial review, the council must not include the value of your home in your financial assessment for the first 12 weeks after you move in.

Deferred (Interim) Payment Agreements

While you are selling your house, the council can offer a deferred payment agreement. This is a type of loan. The council pays towards your residential home fees and then reclaims the money when your property is sold. Depending on equity and council area, the council may pay the whole of the private fees or only the NCHC amount depending on assets, leaving the outstanding balance of the private fees to be paid by you to Randolph Hill when your property sells.

As a first step, it is important to contact your local social work department for advice on your personal circumstances.

Before taking up residency, a written agreement will be signed stating the terms and conditions. Please contact the manager of any of our homes if you would like a copy or more details.

Insurance

Rather than using capital to pay care or nursing home fees for an unknown period of time, it is possible to buy a policy that will pay these fees. This insurance can either be an insurance taken out historically to cover unknown fees or can be the purchase of an annuity for a fixed amount lump sum to pay fees immediately for the whole of the resident’s life. Known as an Immediate Need Care Fee Annuity, or an Immediate Needs Care Fee Payment plan, this type of insurance can provide you with regular income towards the costs of a residential home, after a lump sum has been paid and can provide certainty of what assets will remain after paying care or nursing home fees.

Care Home ‘Top-Ups’

Whilst it is less common, some people make use of this option, which is when a friend or relative supports with a ‘top up’, or an amount of money which allows someone to move into a care or nursing home which they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford, or which is more expensive than the amount of support they’re entitled to from their local authority.