Free Personal and Nursing Care, Scotland, 2022-23

Care at home: Care provided by a professional social care worker in a person’s own home. This can include personal care and other tasks such as help with shopping and cleaning. Since July 2002 for people aged 65 and over, and 2018 for people aged 18 to 64, individuals can no longer be charged for Personal Care services provided in their own home – Personal Care at Home is provided for free.

Financial quarter: A three month period of the financial year. Quarter 1 (Q1) lasts from April to June, Q2 from July to September, Q3 from October to December and Q4 from January to March.

Financial year: The period from 1 April – 31 March. This publication relates to data from the 2022-23 financial year (i.e. the period from 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023).

Free Nursing Care (FNC): Nursing care payments are provided for people assessed as requiring this service making it free at the point of use. 

Free Nursing Care payment: A set, weekly payment available to self-funding Care Home residents towards their nursing care needs. The value of the payment has increased over time (as shown in Figure 1 in Apendix 1 to the accompanying Methodology document) and was £95.80 in 2022-23.

Free Personal Care (FPC): Free care of a personal nature is provided for eligible people residing in a Care Home or receiving Care at Home. Personal care has been provided for free for people aged 65 and over since 2002; this was extended in April 2019 for people aged 18-64.

For people in a Care Home, an FPC payment is made for eligible self-funding Care Home residents to fund personal care. For people placed in a Care Home under the National Care Home Contract, FPNC services are provided for those eligible and they are financially assessed for their contribution towards these services.  

For people receiving Personal Care at Home, the term “FPC at home” has been used within this publication when referring to 2019-20 and later.

Free Personal Care payment: A set, weekly payment available to self-funding Care Home residents towards their personal care needs. The value of the payment has increased over time (as shown in Figure 1 in Appendix 1 to the accompanying Methodology document) and was £212.85 in 2022-23.

Free Personal and Nursing Care (FPNC): Encompasses both FNC and FPC. Some residents receive only FPC, and others receive both FPC and FNC. Although a few Care Home residents receive FNC without FPC, these numbers are taken to be very small, so are not recorded separately.

Long-stay Care Home resident: As defined in the Quarterly Monitoring Return, this includes all residents who Local Authorities are paying a contribution for on the last day of the financial quarter.

Local Authority funded resident: A Care Home resident who has been assessed as having assets worth £29,750 (for 2022-23) or less whose care is publicly funded. These residents may still contribute to their Care Home fees from their pensions, capital and any other income.

Personal care: This involves care of a personal nature. It can include activities such as help with eating, bathing and toileting. It can also include tasks such as assistance with reminders and managing behaviour. A fuller list of the types of care counted as personal care can be found on the Care Information Scotland website.

Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4: See Financial Quarter

Self-funding resident or self-funder: A resident with assets, including property, that have been assessed as being worth more than £29,750 (for 2022-23), who pays the total of their Care Home fees. These residents may be eligible for Free Personal Care and Free Nursing Care payments.