Free Personal and Nursing Care, Scotland, 2021-22

People receiving Free Personal Care and Free Nursing Care

This section presents the latest available data on the number of care home residents receiving FPC and FNC payments, and the number of people receiving free personal care at home.

Figures for those aged 18 to 64, and those aged 65 and over, are presented separately. This is in part due to the different care needs of each group, and additionally because these payments were made available to those 18-64 in April 2019, under Frank’s Law. For more information, please see the Extension of Free Personal Care publication and the Sources section of this document.

Care Homes

Since 2002, information has been collected on the number of residents aged 65 and over supported by Local Authorities in care homes through the Scottish Government Quarterly Monitoring Return (Community Care Quarterly Key Monitoring Return). This collection was modified for the collection of 2018-19 data to also cover people aged 18 to 64, ahead of the extension of Free Personal Care in April 2019.

65 and over

In 2021-22, there were 10,550 self-funding residents aged 65 and over in care homes receiving FPNC payments. This is a small increase from 10,510 reported in the previous year, and an overall increase of 11% from 9,510 in 2012-13. The highest number of self-funding residents receiving FPNC payments recorded was 11,600 in 2018-19.

As a proportion of all long stay care home residents aged 65 and over, 38% were self-funding residents receiving any FPNC payments in 2021-22. This is a slightly higher proportion than 37% in 2019-20, and a long-term increase from 31% in 2012-13.

7,140 (68%) of the 10,550 self-funding residents aged 65 and over who received any FPNC payments in 2021-22 received both FNC and FPC payments. 3,410 (32%) received FPC payments only.

The proportion of care home residents who receive any FPNC payments aged 65 and over, who receive both FNC and FPC payments has increased overall from 64% in 2012-13 to 68% in 2021-22. Therefore, the proportion receiving FPC payments only has decreased from 35% in 2012-13 to 32% in 2021-22.

The remainder of care home residents did not receive either FPC or FNC, or are publicly funded under the National Care Home Contract and are thus not included in these figures.

Full data is available in the accompanying tables.

Figure 1: The total number of long-stay residents aged 65 and over supported in care homes has decreased since 2012-13, while the number of residents receiving any FPNC payments has increased by 11% over the decade.

 The number of long stay Care Home residents aged 65 and over who receive both FPC and FNC payments, FPC payments only, and who do not receive FPC or FNC payments, Scotland, 2012-13 to 2021-22.

Source: Scottish Government Quarterly Monitoring Return. Please note that the total of all bars for each year may very slightly differ to the total number of care home residents for that year due to figures being rounded.

In 2021-22 there were 27,640 residents aged 65 and over. This is a decrease of 2% since 2020-21 (28,120 residents) and of 9% from 2012-13 (30,260 residents)

The largest year-on-year decrease of 8% was from 2019-20 to 2020-21, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic.

18 to 64

There were 140 self-funding residents aged 18 to 64 in care homes receiving FPNC payments in 2021-22. This represents 4% of the 3,330 long stay care home residents aged 18 to 64, a much smaller proportion than for residents aged 65 and over.

Of the 140 self-funding residents aged 18 to 64 who received any FPNC payments in 2021-22, 90 (62%) received both FNC and FPC payments, compared to 54% in 2020-21. 50 (38%) received FPC payments only, a smaller proportion than 46% in 2020-21.

For context, the overall number of long stay residents aged 18 to 64 supported in care homes has increased by 7% from 3,100 residents in 2018-19 to 3,330 in 2021-22.

Full figures are available in the accompanying tables.

Care at Home

65 and over

In 2021-22 there were 46,190 people aged 65 and over receiving Care at Home services. This is a 7% decrease from 49,770 in 2020-21. Please note that the source of this data has changed from 2017-18. As a result, any comparisons with prior years should be treated with caution. For more information, please see the Sources section of this publication.

In 2021-22, 43,810 older people receiving Care at Home services received FPC services as part of their care package, 7% less than in 2020-21 (46,930), and also 7% less than in in 2012-13 (46,930).

The proportion of older people receiving Care at Home services who received FPC varied between 93% and 96% over the decade. 95% received personal care services in 2021-22. The highest proportion (96%) of Care at Home clients received FPC in 2017-18.

An average of 9.6 hours of FPC per week was provided to people aged 65 and over receiving personal care services at home in 2021-22 (across all Local Authorities apart from Glasgow City, please see the Data Quality section for more information). This is a decrease of 1% from 9.8 hours on average in 2020-21 and a longer-term increase of 16% from 8.3 average hours in 2012-13.

Figure 2: The number of Care at Home clients (aged 65 and over) in Scotland decreased by 8% from 2012-13 to 2021-22. The number of clients who received FPC services at home decreased by 7% over the same period

The number of Care at Home clients aged 65 and over receiving personal care services, and the number of Care at Home clients aged 65 and over not receiving personal care services, Scotland, 2012-13 to 2021-22.

Source: Social Care Survey 2012-13 to 2016-17, Scottish Government Quarterly Monitoring return 2017-18 to 2021-22. The dashed vertical line on the chart shows where the source of data has changed. As a result, any comparisons of years before and after this should be treated with caution.

For the 31 Local Authorities, all apart from Glasgow City, who were able to provide this data, the total number of hours of personal care at home provided in Scotland in the last week of Quarter 4 decreased by 7%, from 409,000 hours in 2020-21 to 380,300 in 2021-22. However, this represents a longer-term 10% increase from 345,400 hours in 2012-13.

18 to 64

In 2021-22 there were 16,200 people aged 18 to 64 receiving Care at Home services. This is consistent with 16,250 in 2019-20, and an overall increase of 10% from 14,750 in 2018-19.

In 2021-22, 11,970 Care at Home clients (74%) aged 18 to 64 received FPC services as part of their care package. This is 1% lower than 12,110 in 2020-21, and 13% more than 10,550 receiving personal care in 2018-19, just prior to the extension of FPC to those aged 18 to 64.

An average of 19.8 hours of FPC was provided at home to 18 to 64 year olds in Local Authorities able to submit data in 2021-22 (all Local Authorities apart from Glasgow City and Scottish Borders, please see the Data Quality section for more information). This is a 7% increase from 18.5 hours in both 2020-21 and 2018-19.

Figure 3: The number of people aged 18 to 64 receiving care at home has increased by 10% from 2018-19 to 2021-22. The number of these people receiving personal care at home has decreased by 1% since 2020-21, and increased by 13% from 2018-19.

The number of Care at Home aged 18 to 64 receiving personal care services, and the number of Care at Home clients aged 18 to 64 not receiving personal care services, Scotland, 2018-19 to 2021-22.

Source: Scottish Government Quarterly Monitoring return. The dashed vertical line marks the extension of Free Personal Care under Frank’s Law, which came into effect on 1 April 2019.

For the 30 Local Authorities able to provide data, the number of hours of FPC at home provided to those aged 18 to 64 in Scotland in the last week of Quarter 4 increased by 9% from 2020-21 to 2021-22, from 183,900 hours to 199,600 hours.

Full figures are available in the accompanying tables.