If your social care worker thinks you need support, they will ask a benefits adviser to assess your finances and work out whether you should pay towards the cost of your care. They will use the County Council’s charging policy to do this. This will not delay the start of any support you may receive. You can find our Charging Policy at westsussexconnecttosupport.org in the Professional Zone section. Or you can contact our Adults’ CarePoint and ask for a copy. See our contact details on the 'Contact us' page.

We will contact you to arrange an assessment and we will tell you what information you will need to have ready for the visit. The benefits adviser will tell you about the types of benefits you may be entitled to. We take account of disability-related expenses, household costs and affordability, so that you are not charged more than you can reasonably afford to pay.

Your contribution

For most people, the amount you pay will only be a contribution towards the full cost of your care. However, if you have more than £23,250 in savings or investments (not including the value of your main or only home), you will have to pay the full cost.

If you have £23,250 or less in savings or investments, the amount you will pay is based on your weekly income and any capital you may have. This is explained in the next section. The financial assessment also takes account of some property-related household expenses, and certain extra expenses you may have because you are disabled. These are called disability-related expenses. You can find more details and examples about capital, income, property-related household expenses and disability-related expenses in the definitions section.

Carers

If you are a carer with support needs and you have £23,250 or less in savings or investments (not including the value of your main or only home), you will not have to pay a contribution towards your support. If you have savings and investments above this level, we will give you information and advice to help you get support to meet your needs.

How we work out your contribution

To work out the amount you will have to pay each week, we add together:

• your weekly income, such as pensions and state benefits (but not money you earn); and
• a weekly charge on capital, at a rate of £1 a week for every £250 (or part of £250) of your savings over £14,250. This does not include the value of your main or only home.

Then we take away allowances:
• to cover your day-to-day living expenses (the minimum income guarantee);
• for property-related household expenses; and
• for agreed disability-related expenses.

The final figure is your contribution. The benefits adviser will explain how we work out your contribution when they carry out your financial assessment. We will give you a record of the amount we will expect you to pay. If you think you can’t afford that amount, you should contact us immediately. Please see the section ‘What to do if you have more questions or you want us to review your financial assessment’.

You will have to pay your financial contribution from the time your support begins.

You will need to pay your contribution even if you do not use a service for a period of time, for example if you go into hospital. This is because you will still be receiving social care funding during this time. Any overpayment you make will be refunded.

If you do not want to give us your financial information, we may send you an invoice for the full cost of your support.