Free personal and nursing care, Scotland, 2011-12

1. Introduction

This Statistics Release presents the latest figures for free personal care (FPC) and free nursing care (FNC). The figures presented differ slightly from previous publications due to corrections being submitted during the validation process. Free personal and nursing care (FPNC) was introduced in Scotland on 1 July 2002. Prior to 1 July 2002, people could be charged for personal care services provided in their own home and many residents in Care Homes had to fully fund their care from their own income and savings.

Care at home:

• people aged 65 and over can no longer be charged for personal care services provided in their own home. They can however be charged for domestic services such as help with shopping or housework but any charge would be subject to a financial assessment.

Care Homes:

• people aged 65 or over who live in care homes and are assessed as self-funders can receive a weekly payment towards their personal care. This weekly FPC payment was set at £145 from 1 July 2002 and has risen to £159 from 1 April 2011.
• People of all ages who live in care homes and are assessed as self-funders can receive a further payment if they require nursing care. This weekly FNC payment was set at £65 from 1 July 2002 and has risen to £72 from 1 April 2011.
• the remainder of the care homes fees - the 'hotel' costs - they still fund themselves.

This release presents information from a variety of sources to give a picture of:

• the number of people benefiting from free personal care and free nursing care in Scotland, and
• how much Local Authorities spend on personal care services

Figure 1: Number of people receiving FPNC (thousands)    

 Figure 2: Expenditure on FPNC (£ millions)