This decision is usually made under pressure, often from a hospital ward, and often by adult children who feel they’re choosing between their parent’s wishes and their parent’s safety.
Here’s an honest comparison — including the situations where a care home is the better answer. Agencies provide home care, so read the care home section knowing that, and judge it on whether it’s fair.
The two options at a glance
| Home care | Care home | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Their own home | A residential or nursing home |
| Attention | One-to-one for the paid hours | Shared; staff ratios vary by home and shift |
| Typical cost (West Sussex) | £28–£38/hr; live-in £1,400–£1,700/wk | £1,100–£1,600/wk residential; £1,400–£2,000/wk nursing |
| Property in the means test | Disregarded | Normally counted |
| Routine | Theirs | The home’s |
| Company | Carers, family, existing neighbours | Built-in, all day |
| Night cover | Only if you buy it | Included |
| Flexibility | Scales up and down | Fixed package |
| Couples | One live-in carer can support both | Usually two placements, two fees |
Cost compared, properly
The honest answer is that it depends entirely on how many hours are needed — and the crossover point surprises people.
| Level of need | Home care weekly cost | Care home weekly cost | Better value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Help 3× a week (domestic, shopping) | £90–£130 | £1,100–£1,600 | Home care, overwhelmingly |
| One visit daily | £200–£270 | £1,100–£1,600 | Home care |
| Two visits daily | £450–£530 | £1,100–£1,600 | Home care |
| Four visits daily | £900–£1,060 | £1,100–£1,600 | Roughly comparable |
| Visits plus nightly sleeping nights | £1,900–£2,300 | £1,100–£1,600 | Care home, on cost alone |
| Live-in care | £1,400–£1,700 | £1,100–£1,600 | Comparable — and home care wins for couples |
The key insight most families miss: if you’ve reached the point where hourly visits plus overnight cover looks unaffordable, don’t jump to a care home — price live-in care first. It’s almost always cheaper than stacking visits and nights, and it keeps the person at home. Full figures in our 2026 cost guide.
The funding difference that changes the maths
This deserves its own heading because it reverses the decision for a lot of families.
In the local authority means test, capital above £23,250 means self-funding. But for care delivered in your own home, the value of your property is not counted. For permanent residential care, it normally is.
So a widow in Ferring with a £425,000 house and £19,000 in savings is:
- A self-funder in a care home — house counted, well above the threshold, paying £1,100–£1,600 a week from her own money, possibly via a deferred payment agreement against the property
- Eligible for council support at home — house disregarded, capital between the thresholds, so West Sussex County Council contributes
Before assuming a house sale is inevitable, read the funding guide. And claim Attendance Allowance either way — £76.70 or £114.60 a week, not means-tested.
Quality of life and independence
What home care preserves
- Autonomy over the small things. When to get up, what to eat, when to have a bath, whether the television is on. These sound trivial and are, in practice, most of what dignity consists of.
- Relationships and place. The neighbour who pops in, the postman, the garden, the pub. Care homes rarely sit within walking distance of any of it.
- Pets. Rarely possible in a care home; frequently the single strongest argument against moving.
- Cognitive anchoring. For someone with dementia, a familiar house does real work. Moves commonly trigger a step-change decline that doesn’t reverse.
- One-to-one attention during paid hours, which no care home can match.
What a care home genuinely offers
- Company all day. For someone isolated and unhappy about it, this can be transformative — and some people are noticeably happier after a move for exactly this reason.
- 24-hour staffing included. No night is unstaffed. At home, you pay separately for every night.
- Nothing to manage. No rota, no bills, no boiler, no bins, no maintenance. For a stressed family, this matters.
- Built for the purpose. Wide doors, wet rooms, hoists, level access — things many older houses can’t accommodate at any price.
- On-site nursing in a nursing home, for clinically unstable needs.
When a care home is the better choice
Be honest with yourselves about these:
- High, unpredictable needs throughout every night. Waking-night care nightly is expensive and, at the most intensive levels, may not be enough.
- Continuous registered nursing. Some of this works at home with community nursing; not all of it does.
- The building doesn’t work. A second-floor flat without a lift, a bathroom that can’t be adapted, no room for a hospital bed downstairs.
- Severe, distressing isolation. Home care buys hours, not constant company. If someone is desperately lonely and would welcome community, say so out loud.
- The spouse-carer is also failing. Two people declining together is more common and more dangerous than people expect, and respite may only postpone the reckoning.
- The person wants to go. It happens more often than families assume, and it deserves to be heard rather than argued with.
How to decide
- Get the needs assessment first. Free from West Sussex County Council under the Care Act 2014, regardless of savings. Decide on facts, not fear. See how to request one.
- Ask the person, properly. Not “you don’t want to go into a home, do you?” — that’s a leading question. Ask what worries them most about each option.
- Price all three options — hourly visits, live-in care, and two or three local care homes. Include the funding position for each; the answers differ more than the headline rates suggest.
- Check the property honestly. An occupational therapist will tell you in one visit whether the house can be adapted and what it costs. Disabled Facilities Grants of up to £30,000 are available via Adur & Worthing Councils.
- Don’t decide in a hospital corridor. Discharge pressure produces permanent decisions in rushed circumstances. You can request a short-term package at home or an interim placement while you decide properly.
- Try before committing. A few weeks of home care tells you a lot, and it’s reversible. A care home placement rarely is — the house often gets sold to fund it.
Talking it through
a CQC-registered agency offers a free assessment across Worthing and Adur, and A good provider will tell you honestly if a care home is the better option. That happens, and saying so is the only way this conversation is worth having.
Call the provider directly.
Frequently asked questions
Is home care cheaper than a care home?
Substantially cheaper at light and moderate levels — a few visits a week costs a fraction of residential fees. The two converge around four visits a day, and live-in care at £1,400–£1,700 a week is broadly comparable to a West Sussex care home. For couples, home care is almost always cheaper, because one live-in carer can support two people while a care home charges two fees.
Does my house count towards care costs?
For care delivered in your own home, no — the property is disregarded in the means test. For permanent residential care it is normally counted, though there’s a 12-week property disregard at the start and deferred payment agreements exist so nobody is forced to sell during their lifetime.
Is home care better for someone with dementia?
Often, yes. Familiar surroundings support orientation and routine, and moving frequently triggers a noticeable decline. That said, if needs become very high overnight or the home can’t be made safe, a specialist dementia care home may be the right answer. Dementia care at home covers what makes it work.
Can we try home care first and move to a care home later?
Yes, and it’s usually the sensible order. Home care is reversible and can be increased, reduced or stopped with notice. A care home move rarely reverses, particularly once a property has been sold to fund it.
What if my parent refuses to go into a care home?
An adult with mental capacity has the legal right to refuse, even if family disagree. The practical route is to make home the safest option it can be: care visits, adaptations, a community alarm, and overnight support if nights are the risk. If you believe they lack capacity for the decision, ask the council for a mental capacity assessment.
The Care Panel is an independent publication. We are not a care provider and are not regulated by the Care Quality Commission, because we do not deliver care. Always check a provider’s own CQC registration and inspection report before you commit.
Written and fact-checked by The Care Panel. Last updated September 2026. Costs are indicative 2026 market figures, not quotes. General information, not financial advice.