Elderly Home Care FOI
Case reference FOI2025/02486
Received 18 December 2025
Published 13 January 2026
Request
Under the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to request the following information regarding placements and spending for older person’s domiciliary care services. Please provide answers on the attached accompanying Excel spreadsheet.
When referring to “individuals” and/or “older persons”, I am specifically referencing individuals aged 65 years old and older.
“Domiciliary care” means care and support services provided to individuals in their own homes (including personal care and support with activities of daily living) and delivered by home care providers or personal assistants. It excludes residential and nursing care in care homes and day‑centre‑only services.
“State‑funded” refers to care and support where the local authority contributes to the cost of an individual’s domiciliary care package following a Care Act assessment and financial assessment. This includes packages that are fully funded by the local authority, and part‑funded by the local authority with client contributions under the authority’s charging policy.
“Direct payments” are monetary payments made by the local authority to, or on behalf of, an individual who has been assessed as eligible for care and support, so that the individual (or their representative) can arrange and purchase their own domiciliary care services instead of the local authority commissioning those services directly.
“Visiting care” means domiciliary care provided through scheduled visits to an individual’s own home, typically for short, time‑limited calls (for example, 15–60 minutes) delivered one or more times per day or week, rather than on an overnight or continuous basis. Visiting care includes personal care and support with daily living but does not involve a carer residing in the service user’s home.
“Live‑in care” means a form of domiciliary care where a paid carer resides in the service user’s own home for an extended period (for example, on a 24‑hour or block‑week basis) to provide ongoing care and support. The carer’s presence is continuous, although specific hours of active care and agreed rest breaks may be defined separately within the package.
1. Who within the Local Authority, has the commissioning responsibility for domiciliary care placements? Please provide their:
a. Name
b. Job title
c. Telephone number
d. Email address
2. Please provide the following information regarding individuals aged 65+ receiving state-funding for domiciliary care services for the following financial years, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25:
a. Total number of individuals receiving state-funded care
b. Average number of hours of state-funded care received
c. Total gross expenditure by the local authority on domiciliary home care
d. The new of new individuals receiving state-funded care each year
3. Please provide the following information regarding individuals aged 65+ receiving state-funding for domiciliary care services for the following financial years, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25:
a. Total number of hour commissioned for visiting care
b. Total number of hour commissioned for live-in care
4. Please provide the following information regarding individuals aged 65+ receiving direct payments for domiciliary care services for the following financial years, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25:
a. Total number of individuals receiving direct payments from the LA for domiciliary home care
b. Total gross expenditure by the local authority on direct payments for domiciliary home care
5. Please provide the number of individuals aged 65+ for whom the local authority has arranged domiciliary (home) care services where the individual is self‑funding (i.e. their capital/income is above the Care Act financial thresholds and they are paying the full or near‑full cost of their care) and the local authority’s role is to arrange or commission the domiciliary care on the person’s behalf (including where an arrangement or admin fee is charged).
a. Total number of individuals for whom the local authority has arranged domiciliary (home) care services where the individual is self‑funding in each financial year.
6. For those self‑funding individuals aged 65+ whose domiciliary care the local authority has arranged in each of the last five financial years, please provide:
a. The average hourly rate paid by those individuals for domiciliary care in each year.
b. The minimum and maximum hourly rates charged to those individuals in each year (if available).
c. Any standard schedule of hourly rates or bands that applied to self‑funding individuals for domiciliary care in each year (e.g. day/evening/weekend rates).
7. If the local authority charges a separate “arrangement fee” or “admin fee” for arranging domiciliary care for self‑funders under the Care Act, please provide:
a. The amount of the fee in each of the last five financial years.
b. Whether this fee is one‑off, recurring, or structured in another way.
Response
A: See spreadsheet attached.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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