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Do We Have to Sell Mum's House to Pay for Care?
8 June 2026 |
One of the most common concerns raised by families when a relative begins to require long-term care is whether the family home will have to be sold to pay for it. The prospect of care fees can be daunting, particularly where a person has spent a lifetime building up savings or owns a property that represents both financial security and family history.
The answer, however, is not always as straightforward as many people assume. Before any meaningful discussion can take place about property, savings or financial assessments, an important question must first be addressed: who is legally responsible for funding the care? This distinction is frequently overlooked. Conversations often move quickly towards means-testing and care fees when the starting point should be an assessment of the individual’s health and care needs. The question is not simply whether a person has the financial resources to pay for care, but whether they should be paying for that care at all. 
Health Needs Must Be Considered First
Where a person has significant physical or mental health needs, the NHS may be responsible for meeting the full cost of their care through NHS Continuing Healthcare. This is a package of care funded entirely by the NHS for individuals whose primary need is a health need. Unlike local authority funding, NHS Continuing Healthcare is not means-tested. Eligibility is determined solely by the nature and extent of an individual’s needs. A person’s savings, investments, income and property ownership play no part in the assessment. This is a point that many families are never told. By the time ARROW becomes involved, relatives have often already been asked about savings, property values and how care fees will be met. Yet in some cases there has been little or no discussion about whether the NHS should first assess the individual for Continuing Healthcare funding. The National Framework for NHS Continuing Healthcare and NHS-Funded Nursing Care is clear that eligibility should be considered wherever there is a potential indication that an individual’s needs may fall within NHS responsibility. No assessor can properly conclude that a person is not eligible without first undertaking an appropriate assessment of those needs. Whatever the likely outcome, every individual is entitled to have their needs properly assessed. The purpose of that assessment is to establish what those needs are, how they should be managed and, ultimately, who is responsible for funding the care required. 
Why This Matters
The distinction between NHS funding and local authority funding is not simply procedural. It can have significant financial consequences for families. Where a person qualifies for NHS Continuing Healthcare, the NHS becomes responsible for meeting the full cost of the assessed package of care. This applies regardless of whether the individual owns a house, has substantial savings or receives a private pension. Where eligibility is not established, responsibility may instead fall to the individual, often subject to a financial assessment carried out by the local authority. It is at that stage that property, savings and income may become relevant. The order in which these questions are considered therefore matters. Health needs should be assessed first. Only once NHS responsibility has been properly considered does it become appropriate to examine a person’s financial circumstances. Unfortunately, many families discover that the reality does not reflect the process set out in the National Framework. Over the years, thousands of people have challenged decisions about care funding, and many have successfully recovered care fees that they believe should never have been charged in the first place. This is one of the reasons why understanding the process, and asking the right questions at the right time, is so important. 
What Happens If NHS Continuing Healthcare Is Not Awarded?
Not everyone will qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare. Where eligibility is not established, the local authority will usually undertake a financial assessment to determine whether the individual is expected to contribute towards the cost of their care. For residential care in England, individuals with capital and savings above £23,250 are generally expected to meet the full cost of their care. This is often referred to as self-funding. Where capital falls below £23,250, the local authority may begin contributing towards care costs, although the individual will usually still be required to make a contribution from their income and, in some circumstances, from their remaining savings. Once capital falls below £14,250, savings are generally no longer taken into account within the financial assessment, although income such as pensions and certain benefits may still be used towards the cost of care. Families are often concerned that they may somehow become personally responsible for a parent’s care fees. In most circumstances, this is not the case. Financial assessments are based on the individual’s own financial circumstances rather than those of adult children or other relatives. 
Do You Have to Sell the House?
Even where NHS Continuing Healthcare is not awarded, selling the house is not always necessary. Many families are unaware that there are a number of protections built into the social care funding system. For example, the value of a property may be disregarded entirely if it continues to be occupied by a spouse, civil partner or partner, certain relatives aged 60 or over, dependent children, or other individuals who fall within protected categories. There is also a mandatory twelve-week property disregard when a person first enters permanent residential care. During this period, the value of the property should not be taken into account as part of the financial assessment. The intention is to provide families with time to understand their options and make informed decisions without being forced into immediate action. Even after this period has ended, a sale may not be necessary. Deferred Payment Agreements allow local authorities to contribute towards care costs and recover those costs at a later date, usually when the property is eventually sold or from the individual’s estate. These arrangements were introduced specifically to avoid situations in which families feel compelled to sell a property immediately in order to fund care. Interest and administration charges may apply, and independent financial advice should always be sought before entering into such an arrangement. Nevertheless, Deferred Payment Agreements can provide valuable flexibility at what is often a very difficult time. 
What About NHS-Funded Nursing Care?
Families are often surprised to learn that NHS Continuing Healthcare is not the only form of NHS funding that may be available. Where a person lives in a nursing home and requires the involvement of a registered nurse, they may be eligible for NHS-Funded Nursing Care (FNC). This is a contribution paid by the NHS directly to the nursing home towards the cost of providing registered nursing care. NHS-Funded Nursing Care should not be confused with NHS Continuing Healthcare. Where NHS Continuing Healthcare covers the full cost of an assessed package of care, NHS-Funded Nursing Care contributes only towards the nursing element of care. The individual remains responsible for the remainder of the fees, either personally or with local authority support, depending upon their circumstances. The existence of NHS-Funded Nursing Care does not prevent a person from being assessed for NHS Continuing Healthcare, nor does it mean that the NHS has concluded that Continuing Healthcare funding is inappropriate. 
Does It Matter What Type of Care Home My Relative Is In?
Although the framework itself is clearly set out, difficulty often arises in the way it is applied in practice. One of the most significant issues concerns the treatment of well-managed needs. The National Framework is explicit that a need does not cease to be a need simply because it is effectively managed. In reality, however, the success of care arrangements is often taken as an indication that the underlying need is less significant. Where an individual remains stable because of continuous oversight, timely intervention and skilled care, that stability can be mistaken for a lack of need. The level of input required to maintain that position is not always reflected in the analysis. There are also difficulties in how needs are described. Care that arises directly from illness or disability may be framed in terms that align it with routine social care, particularly where similar tasks are commonly carried out within care home settings. This can shift the focus away from the nature of the underlying need and towards the setting in which care is delivered. The structure of the Decision Support Tool can contribute to this. Because needs are divided into separate domains, there can be a tendency to consider each in isolation. The interaction between needs, and the way in which they combine to create overall risk, is not always given sufficient weight. Practical and procedural issues are not uncommon. These can include incomplete evidence, limited involvement from the local authority, or a lack of clear reasoning within the final recommendation. In some cases, the written rationale does not fully reflect the discussion that took place during the assessment itself. Taken together, these issues can result in an assessment that does not accurately reflect the reality of the individual’s needs, and consequently, an ineligible decision. 
Key Takeaways
The question of whether a house must be sold to pay for care cannot be answered simply by looking at the value of the property. The more important question is whether the individual should be paying for care at all. Where there is a possibility that a person has significant health needs, NHS Continuing Healthcare should be considered before financial matters become the primary focus. Eligibility is based on need rather than means, and a person’s savings or property ownership are irrelevant to that assessment. Even where NHS Continuing Healthcare is not awarded, the position is often more nuanced than many families realise. Property disregards may mean that the value of a home is not taken into account at all in certain circumstances. Deferred Payment Agreements can allow the sale of a property to be postponed, sometimes for many years, and local authority support may become available as savings reduce. For these reasons, families should not assume that a move into care automatically means that the family home must be sold immediately. Understanding the distinction between health funding and social care funding is therefore essential. It enables families to make informed decisions, ask the right questions and ensure that responsibility for care is determined according to the legal framework rather than assumption. 
How ARROW can help
At ARROW, one of the most common concerns raised during an initial consultation is the fear that a loved one’s home will have to be sold to pay for care. In many cases, families have already begun worrying about finances before the question of NHS responsibility has been properly explored. ARROW’s role is not to provide financial advice. Instead, it is to help families understand whether NHS Continuing Healthcare should be considered and to ensure that the assessment process is conducted fairly, lawfully and with proper regard to the individual’s needs. If you are concerned about care fees, have been told that a property may need to be sold, or would simply like to understand whether NHS Continuing Healthcare should be considered, ARROW offers a free initial consultation with no obligation and no pressure to proceed further. You do not have to navigate this complex system alone — and your relative should not miss out on funding to which they may be legally entitled.
ARROW Continuing Healthcare Consultants offer independent, expert support to ensure families receive the funding they are legally entitled to. Get in touch for a confidential, no-pressure chat. |
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learn more about how arrow can support you with your claim
At ARROW, we provide expert guidance and hands-on support throughout the NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) process. We can: ✔️ Arrange an initial Checklist assessment for you or your loved one. ✔️ Fully prepare you for the Checklist and Decision Support Tool (DST) assessments. ✔️ Gain access to healthcare records (for relatives, a certified Power of Attorney or Court Deputyship Order is required). ✔️ Build strong evidence using medical and care records to support your case. ✔️ Draft evidence-based supporting statements for assessment and appeal panels. ✔️ Represent and advocate for you or your loved one at any stage of the process. ✔️ Manage appeals if you’ve been wrongly assessed as ineligible for CHC funding. 💡 If you believe you or your loved one may qualify for NHS Continuing Healthcare, don’t go through it alone--let ARROW guide you every step of the way! 📞 Contact us today for a FREE consultation! |
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