Get Care Now · free UK care cost calculator
What will care at home cost, and who pays?
Answer a few quick questions for a guide to the cost of care at home or live-in care where you live, and whether your council is likely to help towards it. It works for any UK postcode, uses the 2026/27 rules, and takes about a minute. New to all this? See your rights & benefits.
We use this to find the local council and typical local prices. We don’t store it.
That’s about 7 hours of care a week.
State Pension age is currently 66. It changes which benefits apply and how much income the council must leave you with.
Money in the bank, savings and investments. The value of their home is not counted for care at home. For a couple, enter half of any joint savings.
State Pension, other pensions and benefits, added up per week. With this we can show what they’d pay and what the council would pay. Leave it blank for a rougher guide.
Here’s your guide
Estimated cost of care
Will the council pay towards this?
Enter your details to see your funding result straight away. One of our team will then ring or email to talk it through and send you a written copy with the 2026/27 figures.
Local guides
Detailed guides for the areas we know best, Teesside and Darlington, where our own care team is based: what care at home typically costs there, exactly who to ring at the council for a free needs assessment, what the council will and won’t pay for, and the local help that’s free. More areas are on the way.
How much does care at home cost in 2026?
Across the UK, home care agencies charge between about £26 and £38 an hour, and live-in care runs from around £900 to £1,400 a week, more for complex needs. The Homecare Association calculates that delivering care properly costs £34.42 an hour in 2026/27. Prices are highest in London and the South East and lowest in the North; below are the averages for the areas our guides cover, from agencies that publish their prices.
| Area | Visiting care (per hour) | Live-in care (per week) | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK typical range | £26–£38 | £900–£1,400+ | Your rights & benefits |
| Stockton-on-Tees | £27.79 | £1,536 | Stockton guide |
| Middlesbrough | £27.05 | £1,446 | Middlesbrough guide |
| Hartlepool | £26.50 | £1,480 | Hartlepool guide |
| Redcar & Cleveland | £26.88 | £1,500 | Redcar & Cleveland guide |
| Darlington | £30.17 | £1,623 | Darlington guide |
Sources: homecare.co.uk guide to paying for care at home (UK range) and the homecare.co.uk area listings (local averages of agencies with fees shown), checked 27 October 2026; Homecare Association Minimum Price for Homecare 2026/27.
How the estimate works
The cost. For care at home we multiply the hours of care a week by the average hourly rate for the council area, where we have one, or by a regional average. Live-in care uses the local or regional weekly average. Real quotes vary with visit length, weekends and the type of care, so we show a range of ±20%.
Who pays. In England, your council uses a means test. If savings and investments are above £23,250 you pay the full cost. Between £14,250 and £23,250 the council helps, but every £250 above £14,250 adds £1 a week to your contribution. Below £14,250 savings aren’t counted and you contribute from income only, and the council must leave you with at least £241.45 a week if you’re over State Pension age (the 2026/27 Minimum Income Guarantee), or £120.40 if you’re younger. If you tell us the weekly income, we show the split between you and the council. Scotland provides personal care at home free, Wales caps the weekly charge at £100, and in Northern Ireland care at home is often free.
Your home doesn’t count. For care in your own home, the value of your house is ignored in the means test. It only comes into the sums if you move into a care home. Benefits such as Attendance Allowance are not means-tested either, see your rights & benefits.
Who’s behind Get Care Now?
This site is run by a team of registered care managers in Stockton-on-Tees who also run a home care service rated Good by the Care Quality Commission in 2026. The calculator and guides are free to use anywhere in the UK, and the estimate itself stores nothing about you. If you ask for your funding result or send an enquiry, it’s our own team who reply, and if you’re in Teesside or Darlington, we can arrange the care too. Read more about us.
Ask a question about care costs or funding
Plain-English answers from our assistant, using the same 2026/27 figures and council details as this site. It gives general guidance, not advice, the council’s free assessment is the final word.
Nothing you type here is stored by us. For anything urgent, call 01642 918142 or your council.