Most people paying for home care would pay £4.17 a week more from April 2027, plus their alarm costs. The council's consultation closes on Wednesday 14 October.
People in Northumberland who pay towards home care, day services or supported living face higher charges from April 2027. The county council wants to raise an extra £450,000 a year from them. Its consultation on how to do it closes on Wednesday 14 October.
Under the council’s preferred option, most people paying charges would pay £4.17 a week more, before any change for personal alarms. The figures are in the council’s social care charges consultation, which opened on 13 August. The changes would not affect charges for living in a care home.
Why the council wants more
The council says it expects to have to cut its budget by nearly £35 million over the two years from April 2027. Raising social care charges is on its provisional list of savings, at £450,000 a year. Charges for care outside care homes are expected to bring in £12.5m this year.
The consultation says plainly that “many people would have to pay more”. Some people who pay nothing now could be asked to pay a weekly charge for the first time.
The three proposals
A. Smaller allowances for disability costs (£250,000). When the council works out what someone can afford, it counts disability benefits as income. It then takes off a standard allowance for the extra costs of living with a disability. Today those allowances are:
| Disability benefit received | Benefit per week | Standard allowance now |
|---|---|---|
| Highest rate | £114.60 | £41.12 |
| Middle rate | £76.70 | £23.50 |
| Lowest rate, or none | £30.30 or nil | £5.88 |
The council wants every allowance to be the same share of the person’s benefit. That would raise charges for people on the highest rate and lower them for people on the two lower rates. It would also stop the £5.88 allowance for people who get no disability benefit, worth about £12,000 a year. Its reasoning: only 18 of nearly 2,300 people assessed on their income had said their real costs were higher than the standard allowance.
B. Personal alarms counted differently (£100,000). About 500 people currently have the cost of a personal alarm taken off their charge on top of their allowance. That is typically £6 to £7 a week. The council wants to treat alarms like any other disability cost, inside the standard allowance. Most people with an alarm would pay more. This would apply to users of the council’s own telecare service too, whose fees Cabinet has just agreed to raise.
C. No refunds while the council is still paying (£100,000). At the moment, if you do not need some home care visits, you can get the difference refunded. The council wants to charge for any period in which it is still paying the care provider. That would include a hospital stay or a week when family are visiting. The council usually stops paying a provider if someone is likely to be in hospital for more than two weeks, and charges would stop then. Services that close, such as day centres over Christmas, would still not be charged.
What it would cost you
These are the council’s own figures for the change in the maximum weekly charge from April 2027, for people already paying:
| Disability benefit | If all three proposals go ahead | If the alarm proposal is dropped | If the alarm and refund proposals are both dropped |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highest rate (£114.60) | £4.17 more, plus your alarm cost | £5.53 more | £6.88 more |
| Middle rate (£76.70) | £1.23 less, plus your alarm cost | 32p less | 58p more |
| Lowest rate (£30.30) | £3.89 less, plus your alarm cost | £3.55 less | £3.17 less |
| No disability benefit | £5.88 more, plus your alarm cost | £5.88 more | £5.88 more |
Three things the table does not show:
- Alarms. In the first column, people who pay for an alarm also lose its deduction, so their charge rises by the alarm’s cost as well. For someone on the lowest rate, the new allowance would be £9.77, which the council says is more than most alarm services cost.
- People who pay nothing now. Some could start paying. The council says the amount would depend on each person’s finances.
- People with savings. Anyone with savings above £23,250 already pays the full cost of their care, so the allowances do not change their bill.
The council says it is writing to everyone who currently pays charges to show how their own maximum charge would be likely to change.
What it means for you
- Have your say by Wednesday 14 October through the online form. It takes in general views first, then each proposal. You can also suggest an alternative: the council says every £1 a week added for people on the highest rate raises about £66,000 a year.
- If your real disability costs are higher than the standard allowance, you can ask for them to be assessed in full. That right stays under every option.
- If you cannot afford the charge you are given, you can tell the council and provide evidence. It says it will reduce the charge if it accepts it.
- Questions: email carecharges@northumberland.gov.uk or call the helpline on 01670 622 891.
Nothing is decided yet. The council says it may change its proposals after the consultation. Councillors will consider the responses before deciding, as part of the council’s budget plans. Working-age households on low incomes should also check the separate changes planned for Council Tax Support from April 2027.
Have your say