Care home funding in Northern Ireland 2025

Moving to a care home can be a difficult time for you and your loved ones. It is a big transition and finding a home you feel happy with is a daunting task in itself. Working out how to cover the cost is often an added stress to an already challenging situation. 

Understanding care homes fees in Northern Ireland, how you are assessed and what financial help you may be entitled to, can help make the process of finding a care home easier for you.

Across the UK, each country has its own funding thresholds, meaning that the amount of money you can have before you start paying for care home fees is different.

This advice applies to Northern Ireland only. We also have articles with information specific to England, Scotland and Wales.

How much are care home fees in Northern Ireland?

The cost of living in a care home differs depending on a range of factors including personal requirements, the location of the home, the facilities on offer, etc. 

The average cost for care homes in Northern Ireland are as follows:

Residential care home	Nursing home
£1,266 per week	£1,528 per week

These costs are an average, some care homes will charge less whereas some will charge much more. When you are looking at different homes, make sure you ask about their fees, and if anything comes at an additional cost.

What are the thresholds for care home funding in Northern Ireland?

When you move to a care home, you may be required to cover some or all of the cost. How much this will be will depend on your capital and assets. This will be determined through a financial means test. You will be deemed to be either self-funded or state-funded. 

Self-funding is when you pay for care home fees yourself. 
State-funding is when your local authority pays your care home fees for you.

In Northern Ireland, the thresholds for 2025 are:

Capital	How this is used to calculate contribution towards fees
Over £23,250	You will be assessed as able to pay for all of your care
Between £14,250 and £23,250	Capital between these amounts will be calculated as providing you with an income of £1 per week for every £250 of your savings
Under £14,250	Your capital will not be counted in calculating how much you have to pay towards your care

If you own your home, this could be counted as capital after you have been in a care home for 12 weeks on a permanent basis. This is only if one of the following people do not live in that home:

• Your husband, wife, partner or civil partner
• A close relative who is 60 or over, or incapacitated
• A close relative under the age of 16 who you’re legally liable to support
• Your ex-husband, ex-wife, ex-civil partner or ex-partner if they are a lone parent

There might also be other circumstances where your home isn’t counted as capital. For example, if your carer lives there. This will be a decision made by your local trust and will be on an individual basis. 

If you want to move to a care home that is more expensive than what your assessment allows, you or a relative or friend can pay a top-up fee to make up the difference between what you can afford and the fees of the care home you’d really like to live in.

Find out more about top-up fees here.

What funding is there in Northern Ireland to help with care home fees?

Council funding

If you fall under the £23,250 threshold, the council will fund, or partly fund, your care home fees. How much funding you’ll receive will depend on:

• The amount of capital or assets you have
• Your needs, for example, what level of care you require
• The cost of a suitable care home in your area

NHS continuing healthcare funding

NHS continuing healthcare is a care package available to adults with long-term, ongoing complex health needs, known as a ‘primary health need’. People who qualify get social care for free, including services received from the local council, organised and funded by the NHS.

To be eligible, you need to have a primary health need, such as:

• Problems with mobility
• A mental or physical disability
• Health deteriorating rapidly
• A complex medical condition
• A terminal illness
• A cognitive or behavioural disorder

NHS-funded nursing care (FNC)

If you need to move into a nursing home, and are not eligible for NHS continuing healthcare funding, the NHS may help you with the costs of the nursing care component of your fees. This is known as NHS-funded nursing care (FNC), which means the NHS contributes towards your fees by paying a flat rate directly to the care home.

If you are paying for your own care and are eligible for FNC, this amount may be deducted from your bill. However, in some cases FNC may be paid to the care home in addition to the fees stated to you, to make it possible to cover the cost of additional care required.

You should speak with the individual care home to find out whether the fees quoted are before or after the deduction of the Registered Nursing Care Contribution, and they will explain whether receiving FNC reduces your bill or not. It’s a good idea to also check your contract with the care home, this will include details of how the funding will work in your specific circumstances. 

Read our article to find out more about FNC here.

HSC contributions

If you have been assessed as requiring nursing care and are living in a nursing home, you may be eligible for £100 paid towards the cost of the nursing component of your care.

This contribution is made by your local Health and Social Care Trust, and you’ll need to undergo an assessment to be deemed as eligible.

What benefits can I get in Northern Ireland while living in a care home?

Before you apply for a means test, it’s a good idea to ensure you are claiming all the benefits you are entitled to. These will be taken into account during your assessment and might impact the funding you receive. Some benefits will cease once you make a permanent move to a care home, so you will need to let your local benefits office know, but there are some benefits that you may still be entitled to whilst living at a care home.

These include:

• Basic State Pension and New State Pension 
• Pension Credit
• Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Attendance Allowance
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
• Armed Forces Independence Payment (AFIP)
• Universal Credit (UC)
• Bereavement Support Payment (BSP) 
• Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)

How will moving to a care home in Northern Ireland affect my pension?

Moving into a care home will not affect your State Pension, you will still continue to receive your payments as usual after you move. However, your pension will be counted as income when your contribution to your fees is assessed, which may mean that you need to use your pension payments to contribute to your care home fees.

Personal Expenses Allowance

If you are state-funded, your State Pension will be used towards your care home fees, but a bit is set aside to ensure you have some money to spend. This is called a Personal Expenses Allowance (PEA).

In Northern Ireland, PEA is currently £27.19 a week.