Am I Entitled to a Care Needs Assessment in Northern Ireland?

Who this guide is for

Adults in Northern Ireland who need help to manage day to day because of illness, disability or age, and the family members or friends who care for them. It covers getting your needs assessed, carers' assessments, paying for a care home and how to complain.

What this guide does not cover

• England, Wales or Scotland: the law is different. Read the guide for England, Wales, Scotland.
• Care for a child, including a disabled child. This guide does not cover it: ask your Trust about children's services.
• Care paid for in full by the NHS because your needs are mainly health needs. This guide does not cover it: ask the NHS or your GP.
• Benefits such as Attendance Allowance, PIP and Carer's Allowance: see our benefits guide.
• Managing someone's money or decisions for them (power of attorney): see our power of attorney guide.
• Charges for care at home, and deferred payments. This guide does not cover them: ask your Trust or Advice NI. Meals delivered to your home are normally charged for.

What the rules depend on

1. Is the person living in Northern Ireland? If they live in another nation, a different law applies.
2. Does the person need help at home or a place in a care home? The Trust assesses needs first.
3. For a care home: how much capital does the person have, and is the stay permanent or temporary? That decides what they pay and whether the home counts.

"Can I get a care needs assessment?"

In Northern Ireland your Health and Social Care Trust, not a council, carries out care needs assessments. The five Trusts are Belfast, Northern, South Eastern, Southern and Western.

Care in your own home is offered to people who need help with things like washing, dressing, cooking, cleaning or managing money. Ask your Trust for an assessment.

You will have a needs assessment before a financial assessment.

"I look after someone"

You can ask the Trust for a carer's assessment. Your right to an assessment, and to the support you may get, is not linked to your income or capital.

Social services draw up a care plan based on your carer's assessment and the assessment of the person you care for. Make sure it covers what would happen in an emergency.

"Will I have to pay for a care home?"

Before you move into a home, the Trust assesses your income and capital to work out how much you pay.

• If you have over £23,250 in capital, the Trust assesses you as able to pay for all your care home fees.
• Capital between £14,250 and £23,250 is counted as giving you an income of £1 a week for every £250.
• Capital of £14,250 or under is ignored.

If you own your home, it counts as capital 12 weeks after you move permanently into a care home. It does not count while any of these still live there: your spouse, partner or civil partner; a close relative who is 60 or over or disabled; a close relative under 16 you are legally responsible for; or an ex-partner who is a lone parent. During a temporary stay your home is not counted.

If you live in a nursing home and have assessed nursing needs, the Trust pays £100 a week towards the cost of the nursing.

In a care home you must be left with £34.10 a week to spend as you want.

Giving money or property away: the Trust may decide you deprived yourself of it to reduce your charge, and treat you as still having it.

"The Trust refused, is delaying, or I disagree"

Complain to your Trust first. From 1 January 2026 every HSC organisation follows the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman's two-stage model complaints procedure.

If you are still unhappy, you can go to the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO). It generally expects complaints within 6 months of being told the complaints procedure is complete.

Deadlines

• NIPSO: generally within 6 months of the letter saying the complaints procedure is complete.
• A permanent move into a care home: your home counts as capital after 12 weeks.

Traps

• Contacting the council: in Northern Ireland social care is run by the Trusts.
• Using Scotland's or Wales's limits: Northern Ireland uses its own figures.
• Thinking your home counts from day one: it counts only after 12 weeks of permanent care, and not if certain close relatives live there.