Is personal care free for older people in Scotland?

Full answer

Social care funding is one of the starkest policy differences between Scotland and England. Scotland has provided free personal care to people aged 65 and over since 2002, and extended this to all adults regardless of age under 'Frank's Law' from April 2019, meaning that once a local authority assesses someone as needing help with personal care tasks -- washing, dressing, help with medication, continence care and similar -- that care is provided free of charge, funded by the Scottish Government, irrespective of the person's income or savings. Accommodation costs in a care home are still charged (though subject to a fixed contribution rate toward nursing care), but the personal care element itself carries no charge in Scotland. England takes a very different, means-tested approach: local authorities in England only fund care costs for people whose assessable capital (broadly, savings and, in some cases, the value of their home) falls below set thresholds, and anyone above that threshold is expected to pay for their own personal care and accommodation costs, potentially running into tens of thousands of pounds a year for residential care. Wales operates its own means-tested system with a capital limit that has historically been set higher than England's, offering somewhat more protection, while Northern Ireland has separate arrangements again. Anyone assessing care costs for an elderly relative should check the specific rules for the nation the person lives in, since the financial impact can differ by tens of thousands of pounds depending on where in the UK they are.

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