Who Pays? · sources

Chapter 11: When the Money Runs Out

5 sources. Checked September 2026.

Every claim in this chapter is traced to the source behind it. Below is each one, numbered as it appears in the book, with a link that opens the original.

Care Act 2014, s.9 (assessment of needs) and s.17 (financial assessment, already cited in "The Number Everyone Panics About"). A needs assessment must be carried out on request, whatever your parent's financial means, so a self-funder can ask at any point, not only once capital is nearly gone.
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/23/section/9 · www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/23/section/17
Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/2672), reg 12 and reg 25\. In the 2026/27 tax year, the upper capital limit in England is £23,250. Check the current figure at [ageingparent.co.uk/s/si-2014-2672-reg12](https://ageingparent.co.uk/s/si-2014-2672-reg12) — this changes each April.
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2672/regulation/12
Timescales for arranging a needs assessment and financial assessment vary between councils, and no single fixed statutory deadline covers either. The Care and Support Statutory Guidance (Chapter 6, para 6.29) requires only that a needs assessment happen within "an appropriate and reasonable timescale," with the council giving an indicative timescale up front — it does not set a number of days or weeks. No equivalent statutory timescale exists for the financial assessment. Ask your parent's council for its own current timescale, and get it in writing.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/care-act-statutory-guidance/care-and-support-statutory-guidance
Third-party top-up payments, where a placement costs more than a council's usual rate, are governed by the Care and Support and After-care (Choice of Accommodation) Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/2670).
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2670/contents/made
Care Act 2014, s.18(1) sets out the council's duty ("must meet") to meet an adult's eligible needs once eligibility is established and the person is ordinarily resident in the area; s.19 sets out the council's separate power ("may meet") to do so in other circumstances, including urgently, before an assessment is complete. This duty does not guarantee funding will continue at a specific care home your parent has chosen.
www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/23/section/18 · www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/23/section/19

Sources for the other chapters are listed at ageingparent.co.uk/sources/who-pays. Free guides on the topics in this book are at ageingparent.co.uk.