Financial assessments

Your Social Care team will carry out an assessment of needs. This is so they can decide whether they can support you with your care needs.

If your care assessment confirms you are eligible for social care support, we will offer you a financial assessment. This will allow us to calculate how much financial support we can provide for you.  

If you choose not to provide your financial details during the financial assessment, we will charge you for the full cost of the care and support that we provide.  

You may decide to arrange your own accommodation with a care home, without a social care assessment. In this case you may have to pay the full cost of your accommodation fees. Especially if your cost is higher than our contracted rate.

You may feel you will need help with your costs in the near future. You can contact Adult Social Care who can carry out a needs assessment before you finalise your arrangements with your care home. We will then complete a financial assessment to see if we can pay towards the cost of your accommodation.

Financial information we need from you

Income

We will ask for full details of your income. This includes any money you receive on a regular basis, such as:

• pensions, including state, occupational, works or personal pensions
• benefits, including Income Support, Attendance Allowance or Universal Credit
• annuities  
• rent from any properties you own  
• trust fund payments

Capital

Capital refers to other types of money you may have, such as:  

Savings

We will use the value of any money you have saved in accounts, including:

• bank accounts
• deposit accounts
• current accounts
• building societies
• Post Office accounts  

Stocks and shares

We will use the current market value of any other investments you may have, including:

• stock and shares
• premium bonds  
• any other assets you own

Property or land

We will include the capital value of any property or land you own in addition to your main or only home. If you jointly own the property or land, we will include your amount of interest in it as a capital asset. You can use the rental income from your additional property to pay towards your care.

Supporting documents  

As part of the financial assessment, we may ask you for the following documents:  

• occupational/works pension statement
• bank statements
• building society, post office, savings, account books  
• tenancy agreement or landlord declaration of rent liability  

Declaration  

As part of the financial assessment you must give full and accurate information. It is an offence to give false information or to withhold details. If you do this to avoid paying for services, we may prosecute you. Or you may have to pay the full cost of your accommodation direct to the care home.

Sending us your form and financial information

If your Adult Social Care assessment has resulted in an agreement to meet your eligible care needs, you will need to complete a  financial assessment form (PDF) [782KB] (opens new window)  and send it to us.

You can return your completed form to us by either: 

• saving the form to your device, filling it in and emailing it to financialassessments@gateshead.gov.uk
• downloading and printing the form, filling it in and returning it to the address below

You can also arrange an appointment with us by using the contact details below.

What to do if you disagree with your assessed charge

If you disagree with the amount you have been asked to pay towards your care and support, you can ask us to review the calculation. To request a review you will need to write to us within 20 days of the date on your Outcome Letter and tell us why you disagree with your charge amount.