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Professionals
The 2-Minute Care Check
Six questions that tell you which part of the care system you are actually dealing with — and what to do first. Most families lose weeks because they start in the wrong place. This is the same triage a nurse would run through on a first phone call.
Answer six questions. Get an honest starting point.
There are no wrong answers and no scores to be embarrassed about. If you are not sure, choose “not sure” — it is a real answer and it changes the result.
What the Care Check is really testing
Arranging care in England is not one system. It is at least four, they are funded differently, they run to different timescales, and each one has its own front door. The Care Check exists to work out which door you are standing at, because that single fact determines everything that follows.
Is this a health need or a social care need?
This is the most valuable distinction in the whole system and almost nobody explains it. Care that is needed mainly because of a health condition may be the NHS's responsibility through NHS Continuing Healthcare, which is free and not means-tested. Care that is needed mainly because of age, frailty or difficulty with daily living is social care, and social care is means-tested. Two people with identical care plans can end up paying wildly different amounts purely because of how their needs were described on paper.
Has the need actually been assessed?
A surprising number of families are quoted fees, shown homes and asked to sign contracts before anybody has written down what the person actually needs. Anyone who appears to need care and support has the right to a local authority care needs assessment, free of charge, no matter how much money they have. Without that document you are negotiating blind.
Is there a deadline being imposed on you?
Hospital wards work to bed pressure. Families work to the rest of someone's life. When those two timescales collide, families almost always lose, because the ward has done this a thousand times and you have done it once. A deadline is not the same as a legal obligation, and knowing the difference buys you the time to get it right.
Where does the money actually sit?
Capital limits in England have not moved for years and are confirmed at £23,250 (upper) and £14,250 (lower) for 2026/27. What counts as capital, whose capital it is, and whether the family home should be disregarded are far more contested than the numbers themselves — and they are where most of the money is won or lost.
- What exactly is being proposed, and who decided it?
- What evidence is that based on, and can I see it in writing?
- Who is expected to pay, and under which funding route?
- What happens if it does not work, and who pays to put it right?
Where the Care Check can send you, and what each one means
Almost every family we speak to belongs to one of these six situations. They need completely different first moves.
Hospital discharge
Someone is on a ward and a decision is being pushed. The pressure is real but the deadline is usually softer than it sounds. Hospital discharge support →
NHS Continuing Healthcare
Needs driven by health rather than age. Fully NHS-funded when the criteria are met, and routinely missed. CHC funding explained →
Care needs assessment
Nobody has written down what is actually needed, so nobody can cost it or fund it properly. Needs assessment →
Care search
The need is understood; the question is which home, which agency, and on what terms. Care search consultation →
Funding and means testing
The money is near a threshold, or the property position is unclear, and it needs settling first. Funding entitlement check →
Planning ahead
No crisis yet. The highest-value position anyone can be in, and the one most often wasted. Free 20-minute call →
What to do in the first 72 hours
Write down the week
What goes wrong, how often, at what time of day, and who currently absorbs it. Evidence beats opinion in every meeting you are about to have.
Ask for the assessment
Request a care needs assessment from the local authority, and a CHC checklist if health needs are significant. Ask for both in writing.
Establish the money
Capital, income, property ownership, and whether anyone else lives in the house. This decides the funding route, not the care plan.
Slow the deadline down
Ask what the legal basis for the timescale is. Ask what happens if you need another 48 hours. Almost always, the answer is: nothing.
Only then choose
Once need, funding route and budget are settled, choosing becomes a manageable decision instead of a leap of faith.
Questions about the Care Check
Is the Care Check an assessment?
No. It is a triage tool. It sorts your situation into the part of the system that is most likely to be relevant so that you start in the right place. A real assessment looks at the person, over time, against defined criteria, and produces a written record. If you need that, a care needs assessment is the right next step.
Do I have to give you my email address to see the result?
No. The result appears on this page. Nothing is submitted, nothing is stored on our side, and you are not added to any list. If you want to talk it through afterwards that is your choice, not a condition.
What if my answers are somewhere between two options?
Choose the one that is closest and read the result as a starting point rather than a verdict. If two situations genuinely apply — a hospital discharge with a funding dispute underneath it, for example — deal with the discharge first and the funding immediately afterwards. The discharge has the deadline; the funding has the money.
The result says NHS Continuing Healthcare. Does that mean we will get it?
No, and anyone who tells you otherwise is guessing. Eligibility depends on the nature, intensity, complexity and unpredictability of someone's needs, judged against national criteria. What the result means is that the question is worth asking properly, with evidence, rather than accepting a passing comment that it would not apply.
We have savings above the threshold. Is there any point going further?
Yes, for three reasons. NHS Continuing Healthcare is not means-tested, so capital is irrelevant to it. Attendance Allowance is not means-tested either. And you still have a right to a free local authority needs assessment, which gives you a written statement of need to negotiate against. Self-funders are the group most often overcharged, precisely because nobody is checking on their behalf.
How much does care cost in our area?
Fees vary enormously by region and by setting, and the advertised weekly rate is rarely the whole picture. Our care fees calculator gives a working estimate and shows how a means-tested contribution is built up. Read it alongside the guide to care costs.
Can you just tell us what to do?
Usually, yes — in about twenty minutes and at no cost. The free care needs call exists for exactly this. If the answer is that you do not need to buy anything from us, we will say so and tell you who to ring instead.
Is this financial or legal advice?
No. We are not regulated to give financial advice and we do not carry out reserved legal activities. Where those are needed we will say so and introduce you to someone who is properly regulated to provide them.
Does the Care Check work for care at home as well as care homes?
Yes. The routes are the same. The funding rules differ slightly — for care at home, charging must not reduce someone's income below a protected minimum, and the value of the home they live in is not counted at all. Finding the right care covers both settings.
Where most people go from here
Care costs explained
What care actually costs in 2026, and how a contribution is calculated.
NHS Continuing Healthcare
What it covers, how the assessment works, and where families lose it.
Hospital discharge
What to ask on the ward, and what you are not obliged to agree to.
Care fees calculator
Estimate weekly and annual costs, and how long savings may last.
You don’t need to know which service you need.
Just tell us what’s happening.
No pressure. No care-provider commissions. Just a conversation about what may help.