Most families do not research care homes calmly. They start on a hospital ward, told a discharge is being planned, with a sense that a decision is needed by the end of the week. In Wigan, adult social care is the responsibility of Wigan Council, and what happens in those few days on the ward determines both the quality of the placement and who pays for the first weeks of it. This guide sets out the money before you start ringing round the 45 homes we list in and around the borough.
What care costs in 2026
Across the UK the average weekly fee is around £1,298 for residential care and £1,535 for nursing care, with specialist dementia care higher again — roughly £67,000 to £80,000 a year. The North West generally sits below those national averages, though the spread between individual homes in the borough is wide.
Nursing homes cost more because they staff registered nurses around the clock. Where nursing is genuinely needed, part of that is met by NHS-funded Nursing Care paid directly to the home.
The weeks after discharge you may not have to pay for
This is the part families most often miss, and it is worth thousands.
When someone leaves hospital still needing support, the assessment of their long-term needs should not be carried out on the ward — where people present at their worst. Instead there is normally a period of NHS-funded support first, so that the assessment happens once the person has recovered as far as they are going to:
- Discharge to Assess. A period of care — at home or in a bed in a care home — funded by the NHS while the longer-term assessment is completed. During this period there is no means test and the family is not billed.
- Reablement and intermediate care. Short-term support aimed at recovering independence, which can be provided free of charge for up to six weeks.
The practical consequence: if a family signs a private contract with a care home on day one of discharge, they may be paying privately for a period the NHS would otherwise have covered — and locking in a placement chosen under pressure. The question to ask the ward, explicitly, is: «Is a Discharge to Assess or intermediate care period being offered, and if not, why not?»
What ward staff rarely explain about choice
Discharge pressure is real, but it does not remove the right to a proper process:
- A person should not be discharged without the assessment and arrangements their situation requires.
- Where a council arranges a placement, the person has a right to express a preference about which home, provided it is suitable, available and meets the council's cost expectations — and where it costs more, a top-up may bridge the gap.
- Being told a bed «must be freed by Friday» is a description of ward pressure, not a statement of your legal position. It is reasonable to ask for the discharge plan in writing.
None of this means being obstructive. It means not signing a long-term financial commitment in the first 48 hours because a corridor conversation implied you had to.
The means test: two numbers decide everything
- Above £23,250 — self-funder, meeting the full cost.
- Between £14,250 and £23,250 — the council contributes, with a notional income assumed from capital in this band.
- Below £14,250 — capital is disregarded; contribution from income only, less a personal expenses allowance.
Capital includes savings, investments and usually the value of a property the person owns. The 12-week property disregard means the property is ignored for the first twelve weeks of a permanent residential placement, and a Deferred Payment Agreement allows the council to pay now and recover later from the property rather than forcing a quick sale. The property is disregarded entirely while a qualifying relative — a spouse or partner, a relative aged 60 or over, or a dependent child — still lives there.
The NHS routes worth checking
- NHS Continuing Healthcare. Where needs are primarily health needs, the NHS funds the entire package with no means test. A hospital discharge is precisely the point at which a CHC checklist should be considered — ask whether one has been completed.
- NHS-funded Nursing Care. Roughly £220 a week paid directly to the home where registered nursing is genuinely needed.
- Attendance Allowance. Not means-tested, not taxable, up to about £110.40 a week in 2026.
What to ask every home
- The written weekly fee for the specific room and care level offered.
- Whether the placement is being offered as short-term or permanent, and what changes when it converts.
- Whether the home takes council-funded residents and whether a top-up would apply.
- What is included and what is billed separately: chiropody, hairdressing, escorted appointments, continence products, physiotherapy.
- Notice given before a fee increase, and the last three increases.
- What is charged if the person returns to hospital and whether the room is held.
The practical point
The families who come out of a hospital discharge well are not the ones who decided fastest — they are the ones who had a shortlist of genuinely suitable homes ready before the ward asked for an answer, so the choice was made from options rather than from whatever had a bed on Thursday.
If you are in that position now, Curalune Care Help gives you that shortlist: 3–5 suitable care homes matched to your situation within 24 working hours, with contacts, links and a message ready to send to all of them at once. £69 one-off. If you don't receive at least 3 homes matching the area and criteria you gave us, we refund you in full. Start here
Important limits
The figures here are 2026 averages and national thresholds drawn from public sources, and the description of discharge and assessment processes is a general outline rather than advice on any individual case. They do not replace a home's written fee schedule, an assessment carried out by Wigan Council or the NHS, or independent advice. Curalune does not guarantee vacancies and does not carry out assessments.
Paying less is mostly a paperwork problem
What a family actually pays is decided less by the home's headline fee than by three applications: the council's financial assessment (capital above the threshold means paying in full — below it, means-tested support starts), NHS Continuing Healthcare, which covers the entire fee when the need is primarily a health need and is worth requesting a checklist for even if you expect a no, and Attendance Allowance, which is not means-tested and is missed by a great many families. If the home is the only asset, ask the council about a deferred payment agreement before selling anything.