People who fund their own social care

Very little is known about the many adults in England who purchase social care services and support using their own, private resources. However, rising eligibility thresholds for local authority-funded care combined with population ageing means the numbers of self funders are likely to increase. The importance to local authorities of self-funders is also increasing with the implementation of the Care Act 2014.This review sought evidence on: the size of the evidence base, characteristics of the self-funding population, information and advice sought by and available to self-funders, and providers' experiences of self-funders. A self-funder was defined as someone who pays for all of their social care or support from their own private resources or 'tops up' their local authority residential or domiciliary care funding with additional private spending. Social care was defined as care homes (both with and without nursing), domiciliary care, day care and care received as part of extra-care housing.