This is one of the questions we are asked most often, and the honest answer is: sometimes, but not always, and there are legitimate ways to manage it that do not involve giving your house away and hoping for the best.

How the means test actually works

When you need residential care, your local authority carries out a financial assessment, commonly called a means test, to work out how much you contribute towards the cost. In England in 2026/27, the rules work like this:

• Above £23,250 in assessable capital, you pay for your care in full yourself.

• Below £14,250, the local authority funds your care, and you only contribute from your income.

• Between the two figures, you make a sliding-scale contribution, currently £1 per week for every £250 of capital above the lower threshold.

These two figures have been frozen since April 2010. Wales operates a more generous single threshold of £50,000, so if you live in Wales the position is meaningfully different from England.

Is your home actually counted?

This is where most of the worry comes from, and it is worth separating two very different situations.

If you are receiving care in your own home, the value of your house is never counted in the means test, regardless of how much it is worth.

If you are moving into permanent residential care, your home's value is normally included in your assessable capital, unless one of the following people still lives there: your spouse or civil partner, a qualifying relative aged 60 or over, an incapacitated relative under 60, or your child under 18. If any of these apply, the home is disregarded entirely while they continue living there.

The 12-week property disregard

If your home would otherwise be counted and nobody qualifying is living in it, there is still a built-in buffer. For the first 12 weeks of permanent care, the value of your home is disregarded from the means test, giving your family time to make decisions rather than being forced into an immediate sale.

What happens after the 12 weeks

If your capital, including your home, is above the upper threshold, you are expected to fund your own care. This does not necessarily mean an immediate forced sale, however. A Deferred Payment Agreement lets the local authority cover your care costs on your behalf, secured against your property, with the amount recovered later, typically when the home is eventually sold. This means nothing has to be sold in a hurry, and your family is not pressured into a rushed decision purely to meet a deadline.

What does not work, however tempting it looks

It is natural to want to protect a home you have spent decades paying for, and unfortunately this is exactly the area where some people are sold expensive but ineffective advice. Giving your house away, or moving it into a trust, specifically because care looks likely soon, falls under what is called deliberate deprivation of assets. If a council decides that avoiding care costs was a significant reason behind the transfer, even if it was not the only reason, they can treat you as though you still own the property for means-testing purposes. There is no time limit on how far back this can be investigated, and no "seven year rule," that figure relates to inheritance tax, not care funding.

What genuinely does work

There are legitimate, well-established ways to plan ahead, provided they are put in place early and for the right reasons:

• A property protection trust written into your will, set up well before any care need is on the horizon, protecting a share of the home for your children while your partner is still alive to live in it.

• A Deferred Payment Agreement, avoiding a forced sale while still meeting your assessed contribution.

• Checking eligibility for NHS Continuing Healthcare, which, where a person's needs are primarily health-related rather than social care needs, can cover the full cost of care regardless of savings or property value.

• Getting proper advice early, ideally years before care becomes a realistic prospect, rather than reaching for a quick fix once it does.

The honest answer

Care home fees can, in some circumstances, mean your home is eventually sold to cover the cost. But "can" is not the same as "automatically will," and the disregards, deferred payment options, and legitimate planning routes available mean most families have more breathing room, and more options, than they assume.

Worried about how this might affect your family? Book Consultation with Everlasting Legacy for clear, honest guidance on what actually applies to your situation.

This article provides general information about the law in England & Wales and is correct at the time of writing. It does not constitute legal, financial, or social care advice and should not be relied upon without independent professional advice tailored to your individual circumstances.