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The care means test: capital limits and tariff income across the four nations
Above the upper limit you self-fund; below the lower limit only income counts; in between, capital is converted to a notional tariff income. The numbers, by nation.
Based on the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014 (England), CRAG (Scotland), the Welsh charging guidance, and Northern Ireland HSC charging rules.
7 min read · Last reviewed
— In short
Capital is sorted into three zones by two thresholds. A person with capital above the upper limit pays the full fee as a self-funder; below the lower limit capital is disregarded and only income is assessed; in between, each £250 or part of it adds £1 a week of notional tariff income. Those limits vary by nation — £23,250 / £14,250 in England and Northern Ireland, £36,750 / £22,750 in Scotland, and a single £50,000 cliff edge in Wales with no tariff band.
Put the rule to work
Run the calculation
Use the Long-term care entitlement checker with your figures and see the working. Free, with no sign-up required.
The local-authority means test decides who pays for social care, and how much. It runs in two stages — a capital test, then an income test — and the thresholds differ across the four UK nations. Get the nation or the year wrong and every figure downstream is wrong.
Pick the nation and the capital band to see which means-test zone applies.
The rule: three capital zones
Capital is sorted into three zones by two thresholds. Above the upper capital limit, the person is a self-funder and pays the full fee. Below the lower capital limit, capital is ignored entirely and only income is assessed. Between the two, capital stays in the assessment as a notional tariff income.
- England / Northern Ireland — upper
- £23,250
- England / Northern Ireland — lower
- £14,250
- Scotland — upper
- £36,750
- Scotland — lower
- £22,750
- Wales — single limit (no lower)
- £50,000
The boundaries are exact, and the direction matters. In England, capital of £23,250.01 makes a self-funder; capital of exactly £23,250 sits at the top of the tariff band. At the other end, capital of exactly £14,250 is income-assessed with no tariff, while £14,250.01 produces a single £1 step. Scotland works the same way around its higher £36,750 / £22,750 figures.
A worked example: the tariff
Between the limits, each £250 of capital — or part of £250 — adds £1 a week of assessed income. Take the engine’s corpus row CARE-ENG-04: £20,000 of capital, England, residential.
- Assessable capital
- £20,000
- Less the lower limit
- −£14,250
- Capital in the tariff band
- £5,750
- Steps (£5,750 ÷ £250, rounded up)
- 23
- Tariff income
- £23 / week
The same arithmetic at the £23,250 upper limit gives 36 steps (£36/week); in Scotland, capital at the £36,750 upper limit gives 56 steps (£56/week). The tariff is then added to the person’s actual income, and the charge is worked out against what remains after a protected minimum — the Personal Expenses Allowance of £31.80/week in England (£37.65 Scotland, £34.10 Northern Ireland). Wales protects a Minimum Income Amount of £46.35/week instead.
Wales is different
Wales does not operate a tariff band for residential care. It has a single capital limit of £50,000: above it the resident self-funds, and at or below it the local authority assists, with no notional tariff applied. (For care at home, Wales applies a separate £24,000 limit and caps the weekly charge at £100.) That makes the Welsh threshold a true cliff edge — £50,000.01 is a self-funder, £50,000 is assisted — rather than the gradual taper the other nations use.
The common error
Two recurring mistakes. The first is applying England’s £23,250 across the board — Scotland’s upper limit is £13,500 higher, and Wales does not use a lower limit at all, so the wrong nation’s numbers can flip a person from “assisted” to “self-funder” on paper. The second is treating tariff income as real income the capital actually earns: it is a notional figure fixed by the £250 step, independent of interest rates.
Run a specific figure on the long-term care entitlement checker — it picks the right nation’s limits and shows the tariff working. It states a position only; it does not advise.
Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014 reg 12 · reg 25 · CRAG (Scotland) · Welsh charging guidance · engine reading ADR-039
Common questions
- What is the upper capital limit for care in 2026/27?
- £23,250 in England and Northern Ireland, £36,750 in Scotland, and a single £50,000 limit in Wales for residential care. Above the upper limit a person pays the full fee; below it, income and a capital tariff are assessed.
- How is tariff income on capital calculated?
- In England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, capital between the lower and upper limit adds £1 per week of notional income for every £250, or part of £250. £20,000 of capital in England is £5,750 above the £14,250 lower limit, which is 23 steps, so £23 per week.
- Does Wales use tariff income?
- No. Wales has a single £50,000 capital limit for residential care and no tariff band: a person either self-funds above it or is assisted at or below it. A Minimum Income Amount (£46.35/week residential) is protected from the charge.
Sources & grounding
England limits + tariff: CSCAR Regs 2014 reg 12 (limits) + reg 25 (tariff); DHSC LA circular 2026-27 (PEA £31.80). Corpus CARE-ENG-01 (£23,250.01 self-funds), CARE-ENG-02 (£23,250 → £36/week, PEA £31.80), CARE-ENG-03 (£14,250 income-assessed), CARE-ENG-04 (£20,000 → £23/week), CARE-ENG-05 (£14,250.01 → £1/week).
Primary sources:Care and Support charging regulations 2014
Scotland limits: CRAG 2026 via Care Information Scotland (upper £36,750 / lower £22,750 from 6 Apr 2026; PEA £37.65). Corpus CARE-SCO-01 (£36,750.01 self-funds), CARE-SCO-02 (£36,750 → £56/week), CARE-SCO-03 (£22,750 income-assessed).
Wales single limit: gov.wales charging guidance; Age Cymru fs10w May 2026 §5/§10 (residential £50,000 cliff edge, Minimum Income Amount £46.35; no tariff band). Corpus CARE-WAL-01 (£50,000.01 self-funds), CARE-WAL-02 (£50,000 assisted, MIA floor).
Northern Ireland: nidirect (limits £23,250 / £14,250, £1 per £250, PEA £34.10). Corpus CARE-NI-01 (£20,000 → £23/week).
For planning and illustration purposes only. Verify all inputs against source documents. This explainer does not constitute financial or tax advice.
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