You can view our full list of fees and charges here.
Eligibility
You will be assessed by a care manager to determine the level and type of services that will meet your needs. Services are allocated in line with the Council’s Prioritisation of Need Framework.
This enables us to support the allocation of resources to those in the greatest need.
Find out more about the assessment process
Find out more about how the criteria used for assessing your needs
Which services are charged for?
The Council may charge you for the following Community Based Care services:
- Domestic Care
- Personal Care (this is free if you are aged 65 or over)
- Day Care
- Lunch Clubs
- Telecare (which includes community alarms)
- Blue Badges
- Housing Support
- Transport to Care (for example transport to and from day care)
- Employment Support
- Sleepovers
If you are aged 65 and over, personal care services are provided free of charge. Personal care services include, but are not limited to:
- Personal hygiene
- Continence management
- Problems of immobility (only care provided to deal with the effects of immobility which directly meets personal care needs as defined in the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 are included)
- Food and diet, including meal preparation
- Simple treatments (for example the application of creams and lotions)
- Management of medication
- Personal assistance
Exemptions
The Council will not charge for a service if:
- The primary reason for service provision is to monitor children under “supervision” or children and families in crisis;
- Services are provided to adults with mental health problems who are subject to measures under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003;
- Services fall within the scope of Criminal Justice Social Work Services, or;
- Services are provided to adults subject to measures under the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007.
Can you apply for a reduction in your charges?
Yes, you can apply for a reduction in the charges you pay but only for the services listed below:
- Personal Care (if you are aged under 65)
- Domestic Care
- Housing Support
- Day Care
- Employment Support
- Sleepovers
Application criteria
We look at the money you have coming in each week, as well as any savings or investments you might have.
If you are a single person, the amount of any reduction depends on the amount of income you have coming in each week as well as the amount you have saved or invested. There is no limit to the amount of weekly income you can have coming in which would automatically exclude you from applying for a reduction in your charge.
If you have a partner, the amount of any reduction will depend on the amount of income you and your partner have coming in each week as well as the amount you have both saved or invested. There is no limit to the amount of weekly income you and your partner can have coming in which would automatically exclude you from applying for a reduction in your charge.
How is the charge worked out?
We look at the money you have coming in each week, as well as any savings or investments you might have. If you have a partner, we will look at their income, savings and investments too.
We count certain types of money when we work out your charge. These include:
- Pensions (including state pension, a work pension or a personal pension)
- Some benefits (including Attendance Allowance, Incapacity Benefit and Income Support)
- Earnings from a job (unless these are considered therapeutic earnings)
We don’t count other types of money. These include:
- The mobility component of Disability Living Allowance
- War Widows Supplementary Pension
- Armed Forces Compensation Scheme
- War disablement Pension
- Victoria Cross or George Cross Payments
The savings and investments we count include:
- Money in a bank, building society or post office account
- Savings kept at home
- National Savings Certificates and Premium Bonds
- ISAs and PEPS, shares and unit trusts
- Income bonds, capital bonds or granny bonds
- Any property and land you own, apart from your home which we ignore
When we work out your weekly income, we include a tariff charge based on the amount of money you have saved or invested. How we work out you tariff charge depends on your age and if you have a partner or not.
- If you do not have a partner and are of working age, we count £1 for every £250 or part of £250 between £6,000 and £26,000 that you have saved or invested.
- If you do not have a partner and are of pension age, we count £1 for every £500 or part of £500 between £10,000 and £26,000 that you have saved or invested.
- If you have a partner and both of you are of working age, we count £1 for every £500 or part of £500 between £12,000 and £52,000 that you and your partner have saved or invested.
- If you have a partner and one or both of you are of pension age, we count £1 for every £1,000 or part of £1,000 between £20,000 and £52,000 that you and your partner have saved or invested.
Age Definition
Due to the changes currently affecting the state retirement age for women, the age definitions applied in this scheme have been amended to classify service users as either:
- Working age – for service users aged below state retirement age, or;
- Pension age - for service users aged at or above state retirement age.
If you are aged between 60 and 65, your care manager will check your retirement age status for you. If you want to check your retirement age status yourself, you can do so via the “State Pension Age Calculator” on the DirectGov website at https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-age
Once we have identified all of the weekly income you have which we take into account, we:
- Add the income up;
- Add on your tariff charge, if you have one;
- Deduct an allowance for your weekly living costs (these are set in April each year and vary depending on your age and if you have a partner or not);
- Deduct any rent, mortgage or Council Tax charges you pay, and;
- Deduct any charges you pay to the Independent Living Fund
This calculation will tell us how much money you have left over each week after allowing for your living costs. The maximum amount we will ask you to pay towards your services, excluding those which are not eligible for a reduction, will equal 75% of the money you have left over.
Next, we calculate the total weekly charge for each of the services which you receive. We add up all of the charges for the services for which you can apply for a reduction to get one overall charge. We compare this charge against the maximum amount we have worked out that you can afford to pay each week.
We will ask you to pay the lower amount, either the maximum amount you can afford to pay or the full charge for your services.
Finally, we add on the charges for any services you receive for which a reduction is not available. These include charges for meals on wheels, telecare, lunch clubs and transport.
How to apply for a reduction in your charge
You can apply for a reduction in your charge by:
- Asking your care manager to complete an application form for you when they assess your service needs, or;
- By contacting your local Social Work office and asking them to send you an application form.
If you need help completing your application form or have any questions regarding any aspect of your service or this charging scheme, please contact your local Social Work office
If you choose not to tell the Council about your financial circumstances, you will not be eligible for a reduction in your charge.
Benefits help
Argyll and Bute Council and the Pension Service have entered a joint working arrangement to identify clients of pension age who are not receiving their maximum entitlement to state benefits, like Pension Credit and Attendance Allowance.
If you think that you are not receiving your full entitlement, or if we identify that you aren’t, we can, with your permission, refer your case to our Joint Team who can visit you at home to help you to complete the necessary application forms to obtain the payments you are entitled to.
Your personal data
The information you supply will be used for the purpose for which you have provided it, and appropriate measures are in place to protect your personal data. A full privacy notice, which provides information about your rights under current data protection legislation and details about what will happen to your personal data can be found here: