Practical things you can use before you spend anything.
Most families do not need to buy advice on day one. They need to know which questions matter and in what order. Everything on this page is free, written in plain English for England, and uses the same 2026/27 figures we work from ourselves.
Start with the question you actually have
There is no single right order, but there is a common one. Most people arrive with one of three questions: who is going to pay for this, what kind of care does the person actually need, or how do we get out of hospital safely. Answer whichever of those you are living with first, and the rest becomes far easier.
If the question is money
Read who pays for care for the capital limits and how the means test works, then check NHS Continuing Healthcare before assuming the family is paying. Run the numbers with the care fees calculator using the fee you have actually been quoted.
If the question is what kind of care
Start with the 2-Minute Care Check, then read how to find good care for the six types of care and how to judge a provider on things that predict quality rather than on a brochure.
If the question is a hospital ward
Go straight to hospital discharge. It is the single point in the system where the most expensive and least reversible decisions get made, usually at short notice, and it is worth twenty minutes of reading before anything is signed.
- Quote a national average care home fee — averages will not be your fee
- Promise that Continuing Healthcare will be granted
- Give FCA-regulated financial advice
- Carry out reserved legal work such as wills or property transfers
- Recommend a provider we are paid to recommend — we take no commission
- Ask for your details before showing you anything useful
Six guides worth the ten minutes
Who pays for care
Capital limits, the means test, property rules, top-up fees and the funding routes families most often miss. Updated for 2026/27.
NHS Continuing Healthcare
Who qualifies, how the twelve domains are scored, the timescales, and what to do when the answer is no.
Finding good care
The six types of care, how to build a shortlist that works, and what a CQC rating does and does not tell you.
Hospital discharge
What fit for discharge really means, the four pathways, who pays in the first six weeks, and how to slow a decision down safely.
Dementia care
What changes at each stage, how to choose a service that can hold on, and the funding and legal ground nobody mentions.
Planning ahead
Powers of attorney, advance decisions, benefits, and why signing the house over is usually the wrong move.
Three free tools, nothing stored
The 2-Minute Care Check
Six questions about what is actually happening, and a clear view of where to start and what to do this week.
Care fees calculator
Put in the fee you have been quoted and your income. See the weekly shortfall, the annual cost and roughly how long savings last.
CHC checklist tool
Work through the twelve care domains used in the NHS Decision Support Tool and get an honest indication in about five minutes.
Free guide
Paying for Care in 2026
The 10 questions that determine who pays. Thresholds, means testing, property, top-up fees and the mistakes that cost families the most.
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Free 12-page PDF • No obligation
Questions about the guides and tools
Are these really free?
Yes. The guides and the three tools are free to read and use, and none of them ask for your details before showing you something useful. The downloadable PDF asks for an email address because we send it to you; the tools do not.
Do the tools store or send my answers?
No. The care fees calculator and the CHC checklist run entirely in your browser. Nothing is submitted, nothing is stored, and you do not need to give an email address to see your result.
Which country do the guides apply to?
England. Care funding rules differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — capital limits, free personal care and the structure of NHS funding are all different — so the figures here should not be applied elsewhere.
How current are the figures?
The guides use published 2026/27 figures for England: the upper and lower capital limits, the Personal Expenses Allowance, Attendance Allowance rates and the NHS-funded Nursing Care rates that apply from April 2026. Where a figure is a statutory one we say so.
Why is there no average care home fee anywhere on this site?
Because published averages vary enormously between sources and regions, and none of them will be your fee. The calculator asks for the fee you have actually been quoted, which is the only number that will appear on an invoice.
Can the CHC checklist tell me whether we will get funding?
No, and nothing can. It uses the same twelve care domains as the NHS Decision Support Tool so you can think in the right language and arrive at the meeting prepared. It has no official status and it does not decide anything.
Is any of this financial or legal advice?
No. We do not provide FCA-regulated financial advice and we do not carry out reserved legal activities such as drafting wills or transferring property. Where those are needed we say so and introduce you to a regulated professional.
What happens if I book a call?
Twenty minutes, free, with someone who does this every day. We will tell you what we think is going on, what we would do next and whether you need us at all. A good proportion of those calls end with us telling someone they can handle it themselves.
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.Independent · no commission from any care provider · fees published
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