Care Home Contract: What to Check Before You Sign (England)

Care home contracts in England are written for the home's protection, not yours. Most families sign within days of a crisis — a hospital discharge, a fall — and only discover the guarantor clause or the six-week deposit forfeiture when something goes wrong. An hour with the contract before signing saves thousands of pounds and months of disputes.

The guarantor clause: the biggest trap

Many contracts ask a family member to sign as "guarantor" or "responsible person," making you personally liable if your parent's money runs out or fees go unpaid. You are under no obligation to sign this. If the home insists, ask for the clause to be removed or capped — and get any change in writing before your parent moves in.

The same applies to third-party top-ups. If the council funds the placement but the home's fee is higher than the council rate, someone must pay the difference as a top-up. The contract may try to make the top-up open-ended and inflation-linked with no ceiling. Check: the top-up amount in pounds, how and when it can increase, and what happens if the payer's circumstances change. A third-party top-up must be voluntary — the council, not the home, should have confirmed you can afford it.

Fees, increases, and extras

Look for four things in the fee section:

• The weekly rate and exactly what it includes. "Fully inclusive" contracts still often exclude hairdressing, toiletries, chiropody, newspapers, and escorted outings. Ask for the extras price list.
• Fee review mechanism. Most contracts allow annual increases, but some allow rises "at any time with notice." A reasonable clause ties increases to a fixed review date with a written explanation. Open-ended increase clauses are how a £1,000/week placement becomes £1,300 in eighteen months.
• The self-funder premium. Self-funders routinely pay more than the council rate for the same room. You can negotiate — especially if the home has vacancies — and you can also ask the local authority to arrange the placement on your parent's behalf under section 14 of the Care Act 2014 for domiciliary care, since councils often secure lower contract rates.
• What happens when money runs down. If your parent's capital drops toward the £23,250 upper limit, the council takes over funding — but usually at its lower rate. Does the contract let the home evict, force a room move, or demand a top-up at that point? Get the answer in writing now, not later.

Deposits, notice, and what happens after death

Check the notice period for ending the contract (typically two to four weeks) and any deposit or advance payment — how much is refundable, and in what circumstances it's forfeited. Then find the clause on fees after death: contracts commonly charge for three to seven days after a resident dies while the room is cleared, which is normal, but some stretch to two weeks or charge a full notice period. Fairness matters here even if the practice is common.

Also check the trial period. Good contracts include a settling-in period (often four weeks) during which either side can end the arrangement with short notice. If there isn't one, ask why.

Capacity and who can sign

If your parent lacks mental capacity to understand the contract, they cannot sign it — and neither can you on their behalf unless you hold a registered Property and Financial Affairs LPA or a Court of Protection deputyship. Signing "for" a parent without legal authority can leave you personally bound by a contract you never intended to guarantee. If no LPA exists, the local authority or the Court of Protection route applies — sort authority before signing anything.

A five-minute pre-signature checklist

Before anyone signs: confirm the weekly fee and extras list in writing, strike or cap the guarantor clause, pin down the top-up amount and review mechanism, read the fee-increase and after-death clauses, and confirm who is legally able to sign. If the home pressures you to sign on the day, that pressure is itself a warning sign.

Our England Care Decision Guide walks the whole placement process — from the needs assessment to funding to the provider audit — with the questions that surface contract problems before you're committed. Get the guide.

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