Your financial assessment

Following your care needs assessment, we will offer to complete a financial assessment to work out how much of that cost we can cover, and how much your financial contribution will be.

Completing a financial assessment

If we assist with arranging any care services that you need, there will always be a financial assessment to see if you can afford to pay towards the cost of these services.

The financial assessment will look at your:

  • income
  • savings and investments
  • benefits
  • any property that you own or part own - where applicable
  • any other regular income that you receive.

As a result of the assessment we will work out how much you will need to contribute towards your care. This may be some or all of the cost of the care, depending on the amount of income, savings and assets you have.


If you require assistance from the council's adult social care team, please ensure that you have applied for adult social care and support.

You can complete a self-assessment online. Once we have received your application, it will be forwarded to the adult social care team to review and progress.

We recommend that you apply for adult social care and support before submitting an online financial assessment, in order for your account to be created.


Non-residential care services

Non-residential care services can include care delivered to you in your home, in a day centre or through a supported living or extra-care setting.

Non-residential care (PDF) [279KB] - your contribution will be assessed based on government regulations. In some circumstances you will not have to pay anything towards your care.


Residential care

Residential care means care and support is provided to someone in a care home setting. It's for people who need substantial help with their personal care.

There are 2 main types of care home: 

  • residential - offers personal care, such as help with washing, dressing, going to the toilet and taking medication. 
  • nursing - provides personal care and also have qualified nurses on duty at all times. They can be suitable for people who require frequent medical attention. 

Residential or nursing care (PDF) [316KB] - you will always have to make a contribution towards the cost of your residential or nursing care home fees. However, there are some exceptions, which will be identified during the means-tested financial assessment process. Your contribution will be assessed in line with the Care Act regulations set out by the Department of Health.

The amount you have to contribute will be based on your income, your capital and any applicable assets that you own or have an interest in. You are entitled to retain a weekly amount from your income to pay towards personal items, such as toiletries and newspapers. The amount is currently £28.25 per week.

If you choose a care home that is more expensive than the maximum weekly council contribution, you will have to make arrangements for someone else to pay the difference. This is called a third party top up. You cannot pay this amount from your own income or capital. We have produced a  third party top-up factfile (PDF) [111KB] to help you understand how a third party top up works.


Online financial assessment

The online financial assessment calculator will tell you how much you are likely to have to contribute towards the cost of your care and support needs, if the council's adult social care team arrange a package of care for you. You can also submit your details securely to the council, if you would like a full and verified means tested financial assessment.

It should take approximately 10 minutes to answer all the questions on the calculator.

Once the contribution has been calculated, it is recommended that you download and save a copy of the outcome for your records, as a copy will not be sent to you.

If you submit the calculation, you will receive a financial assessment outcome letter once your details have been verified by the council's financial assessment team.

Before you begin, please ensure that you have all relevant income and capital details relating to the 'cared for' person. There is no functionality to save and return to the calculator once your session has started.  Further details of the information you will need to gather can be found in the 'find out more' section on the link below.  

Complete an online financial assessment for non-residential or residential services


If you're unable to complete an online financial assessment, you can download a copy of the  financial assessment form (PDF) [183KB] and post to, Financial Assessment Team, Hillingdon Council, 4W/09 Civic Centre, High Street, Uxbridge, UB8 1UW.


Reporting a change in your circumstances

If you are an existing client and a financial assessment has already been carried out for you, any changes in your circumstances must be reported to the financial assessment team without delay.

Update your financial information


Information about benefits

Our benefits calculator will help you find out what benefits you can claim.

Use our benefits calculator

See GOV.uk for more information on benefits for pensioners.

Page last updated: 29 Feb 2024