Arranging care in East Sussex
East Sussex County Council is the upper tier local authority for much of the South East coast and its rural hinterland, covering Eastbourne, Hastings, Bexhill-on-Sea, Lewes, Uckfield, Crowborough and Seaford. Brighton and Hove are served by their own unitary authority, but many families across the wider East Sussex area still turn to the county council when they need help arranging support for an older relative or a disabled adult.
If you are starting to think about care for yourself or a loved one, the first step is to contact Adult Social Care at East Sussex County Council and request a needs assessment. This assessment is free, regardless of income or savings, and looks at how someone is managing day to day, whether that is at home in Crowborough, in a flat in Eastbourne, or in a family home near Hastings. If the assessment identifies eligible needs, a separate financial assessment (means test) then looks at income, savings and property to work out how much, if anything, the person must contribute towards their care.
Local care choices and typical fees
The local care market is sizeable, with around 393 CQC registered care homes across East Sussex, giving families a genuine choice between smaller family run residential care homes, larger nursing homes with on site clinical staff, and specialist dementia units. Alongside these, a wide network of home care agencies supports people who would prefer to stay in their own homes with visiting carers or live in support.
Costs vary depending on the type of support and the individual home, but as a general guide in East Sussex home care sits at roughly 22 to 28 pounds an hour, residential care homes typically charge around 1,100 to 1,400 pounds a week, and nursing homes tend to fall between 1,300 and 1,700 pounds a week where nursing input is required.
Funding can come from several routes: full local authority funding where savings fall below the national lower threshold, part funding with a personal contribution, NHS Continuing Healthcare for those with primarily health related needs, NHS funded nursing care contributions, and self funding. East Sussex County Council can also arrange deferred payment agreements so that a home does not have to be sold immediately to pay for care.
