At the Partnership we provide a range of community-based health and social care services to people in Edinburgh. Many of these services are provided for you free of charge, however in some cases we ask you to pay a contribution towards the cost of these services.
If you are assessed as eligible for care you may be required to pay something towards that care. Anyone who receives a “chargeable service” will be assessed to determine how much they can afford to pay towards the cost of those services; this is called a financial assessment. This financial assessment will be carried out along with a social care assessment.
The contributing to your care policy explains how the council will work out how much you should pay towards the cost of any assessed eligible care and support services.
An individual’s ability to contribute to the cost of eligible care and support will take account of following income, based on a weekly amount:
- Net earnings
- Benefits / Tax Credits
- Pension Income
- Other income, including income from a non-dependant living at home.
If you do not want a financial assessment, you can refuse one. This means you will have to pay the full cost of any chargeable services arranged for you.
Paying for my care
Care homes
If you are not sure whether you need to pay for your care or not, or are looking to find out how much you will be charged, you can head to the City of Edinburgh Council’s website to work this out.
Making payments
Each care home has its own billing arrangements. They will provide you with information and talk you through the payment options. Most care homes bill on a four weekly basis.
Head to the City of Edinburgh Council’s website to find out more and to pay a bill online.
Home care
Looking to work out your financial contributions towards your home care? Visit the City of Edinburgh Council’s website for advice on working out your charges and to pay your bill online.
Getting support
Self-Directed Support lets you take more control over the money available to meet your agreed care and support needs. It allows you to make choices about your support based on the things that are important to you, and to help you stay safe and well.
You can also choose how you want your agreed support to be organised and managed. There are four options to choose from
- We provide you with a Direct payment which you use to arrange your support.
- You choose your support and ask us or another organisation to arrange and manage it for you.
- You ask us to choose and arrange your support.
- You choose a combination of Options 1, 2 or 3.
Any adult or carer, who meets the agreed criteria, can ask to manage their own support.
Head to the city of Edinburgh Council’s website to find out more about self-directed support.
What am I eligible for
We assess a person’s needs to decide if we can offer care and support. We must give priority to people who are at most risk.
Eligibility criteria are used to make sure our decisions are fair and that our limited resources are provided to people at the most risk of losing their independence or personal safety. We will not be able to provide paid for support to everyone.
Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership use the National Standard Eligibility Criteria consistently across both adults and older people services, which helps to achieve fairness, consistency and transparency in how decisions are made.
If the risks to your personal safety and maintaining your independence are high, we will discuss with you what services you need.
If these risks are lower, we will give you information and advice for you to arrange your own support.
The eligibility criteria has four levels and considers both the level of risk to your daily living and the urgency that you need support:
- Critical – This means there are major risks to your independent living or health and wellbeing. You are likely to need services immediately or urgently.
- Substantial – This means there are significant risks to your independent living or health and wellbeing. You are likely to need services immediately or urgently.
- Moderate – This means there are some risks to your independent living or health and wellbeing.
- Low – This means there may be some problems with your quality of life, but low risks to your independence and wellbeing.
If you meet the criteria for substantial or critical risk, we will aim to put your support in place within six weeks. However, there will be occasions where that is not possible.
Assessment
We assess a person’s needs to decide if we can offer care and support. We must give priority to people who are at most risk.
To do this we use eligibility criteria. This lets us work out how serious the risk is of you losing your independence if your needs are not met.
You have an important role in an assessment by saying what you think will best meet your needs. Think about your health and your family circumstances, what you can do for yourself and what you find difficult. This will help us understand if your safety and independence are at high risk and what support you might need.
Where the risk is lower, we will give you information and advice. This will be the case if you are having some difficulties but can manage most aspects of daily living.
We may need to meet with you to discuss your needs.
How to request an assessment
When someone contacts us to ask for social care support, we call this a referral.
Anyone can contact us to make a referral – you can do this yourself or someone can make contact on your behalf, such as a relative, carer, friend, GP or other professional. At the initial point of contact we will begin your assessment – this is where we start to gather information about you. This will help us to understand what your needs are and establish your eligibility for support.
It may be that we will need to arrange a visit to gather more information, in some cases more than one visit will be needed. You can have someone with you during the assessment visit. As your care needs, outcomes and eligibility are identified, we will discuss the full choice of options that are available to you.
These could include:
- Being healthy safe and well
- Exercising choice and control
- Personal dignity and respect
- Making a positive contribution to family and community life
Anyone in Edinburgh whose needs are assessed as critical or substantial will be eligible for access to paid services and support.
If, after assessment, your needs are within the moderate or low category you do not meet our criteria for access to paid services or support. However, you will be provided with information and advice on other possible sources of help