Free, Impartial Advice on Dementia Care
Guidance for families navigating care — without pressure, obligation, or cost.
When a loved one begins to need care, families are often forced to make complex decisions quickly — usually while under emotional strain, and often before they fully understand their options.
Many people speak to social services first, or visit homes without knowing what questions to ask, what support they’re entitled to, or what truly matters for long-term wellbeing.
That’s why we offer free, impartial advice to families at the very start of their care journey.
We’ll help you understand:
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The different care options available
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How funding and assessments work
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Your rights, choices, and next steps
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The key questions to ask any care home
There’s no obligation and no pressure to choose us. Just clear, honest guidance from people who work in care every day and understand how difficult these decisions can be.
Whether you’re planning ahead or facing an urgent situation, we’re here to help you make sense of it — calmly, clearly, and at your pace.
Email us to arrange a callback at a time that suits you at support@ariacarehome.com or call below.
Answering your questions
You’ll naturally have your own list of questions that need answering through this time. Whether it’s a social worker, a Home Manager, a Caregiver, Nurses, or the very people living in each care home – those questions should be fully answered, without exception.
You have the right to know about all the services and offerings a care home provides – the fees they charge, staffing ratios, qualifications and experience of those team members, outcomes of previous inspection reports, any areas requiring improvement, activities, community involvement, available meals and choices, and any other area that is especially important to you.
Having all of this information made available to you is vital to making an informed decision for your loved one.
Our home fees
It’s important to know that whether your loved one is self-funded or Local Authority assisted, you have the right to choose the care home you feel is best for your relative, and should not be influenced or encouraged to choose somewhere different based on price. If you wish for your loved one to move to a more expensive home, the Local Authority may pay what they have assessed their needs to be, and it may require you to find a way to pay the remainder – this is known as a top-up fee. However every Local Authority has an obligation to the individual to fund their care needs, and must never influence a family towards a specific home that they suggest.
It’s advisable that you as a family undertake financial planning through an Independent Financial Adviser to consider all of your options in regard to any long-term care plans and understand every scenario. You can also speak to independent advocates such as Age UK or the Alzheimer’s Society to offer free and impartial advice.
Self funded
If your loved one has capital in their name of over £40,000 (Wales) they will not quality for Local Authority assistance towards their care home fees, until their total capital falls below this threshold.
Each Local Authority will undergo their own financial assessments to determine your loved one’s capital position.
Should your relative’s capital position push them outside of Local Authority funding, they will be responsible for the cost of their care home fees until their money falls below the £40,000 threshold.
This classifies them as a ‘self-funder,’ meaning the contract for care will be between yourselves and the care home directly.
Local authority
If your loved one has capital in their name of over £40,000 (Wales) they will not quality for Local Authority assistance towards their care home fees, until their total capital falls below this threshold.
Each Local Authority will undergo their own financial assessments to determine your loved one’s capital position.
Should your relative’s capital position push them outside of Local Authority funding, they will be responsible for the cost of their care home fees until their money falls below the £40,000 threshold.
This classifies them as a ‘self-funder,’ meaning the contract for care will be between yourselves and the care home directly.