Long-term care

For you as a carer, the emotional impact of planning to move the person you care for into residential care can be huge. You may feel emotions like guilt, loss, grief or isolation.

Choosing a care home 

There are many online directories where you can search for care homes in your area:

You can organise a visit to the care home(s) you are considering or have an employee from the home come to speak to you. It’s a good idea to write down what you and the person you care for would like to have in the care home, such as: 

• Are there enough staff? How are they treating residents? What professional qualifications do they have? 
• Are there visiting hairdressers or chiropodists, for example?
• Are safeguarding protections in place for vulnerable adults? 
• Are staff trained to deal with specific conditions like dementia? 
• What activities are provided by the care home? 
• Do residents have access to a telephone or the internet? 
• How does the home handle feedback and complaints? 

Paying for care 

If the person you care for gets assessed as needing to live in a care home, their financial situation will also be assessed. This includes pensions, benefits, property, savings and investments. If they have joint ownership of any of these finances with someone else, then half of the amount will be considered. Care home residents can get 50% of their private pension paid to a spouse who continues to live at home. 

There are upper and lower limits which define how much someone needs to pay. These change with inflation. The Scottish Government explains these limits in the document below. If you have any questions, please contact VOCAL.

Useful guides

Age Scotland provides useful online guides on organising and paying for residential care: 

• Funding for residential care  
• What it’s like living in a care home 
• Care home contracts, if you are paying for your own care