NHS-funded nursing care explained

Nursing homes employ registered nurses around the clock, and that nursing element of the care is the NHS’s responsibility rather than your parent’s. FNC is how the NHS meets it: a flat weekly payment made straight to the home for each eligible resident.

It only applies in nursing homes, because only nursing homes provide care from registered nurses. Residents of residential care homes cannot get FNC, however frail they are. If you are not sure which type of home your parent needs, our guide to nursing homes versus residential homes walks through the difference.

The standard FNC rate in England is £254.06 per week for 2025/26. The rate is reviewed each year and usually changes every April, so check the current figure. A small group of long-standing residents remain on a higher legacy rate that was protected when the system changed in 2007.

Wales and Northern Ireland set their own FNC rates, which differ from England’s; check the current figures with the local health board or trust. Scotland runs a different system altogether, covered later in this guide.

Your parent should receive FNC if all three of the following apply:

• They live in a nursing home (or are moving into one)
• They have been assessed as needing care from a registered nurse
• They are not eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare, which would cover everything instead

FNC is usually considered after NHS Continuing Healthcare has been ruled out. The normal sequence in England is a CHC checklist first, then (if triggered) a full CHC assessment. If your parent does not qualify for CHC but clearly needs nursing care, FNC should be awarded, and in practice this is the outcome for most nursing home residents.

If your parent is already in a nursing home and you are not sure FNC is in place, ask the home’s manager directly. If it has never been assessed, ask the GP or the local integrated care board (ICB) to arrange it. Payments can be backdated to when eligibility began, so it is worth chasing even if the move happened months ago.

The money goes to the home, not to your parent, and this is where families need to pay attention. If your parent is a self-funder, FNC should reduce the bill or be clearly shown in the fee. Homes present this differently: some quote a fee with FNC already deducted, others quote a gross fee and show the FNC as a credit on the invoice. Either is fine, as long as you can see it.

Ask the home to confirm in writing whether the quoted fee is before or after FNC, and check the invoices once payments start. If the council is funding your parent’s place, FNC generally reduces the overall cost the council pays rather than changing your parent’s assessed contribution.

FNC is a contribution to the nursing element, not a discount scheme, so do not expect the overall fee to feel small afterwards. Typical nursing care costs are covered in our guide to care home fees, and the means test that decides your parent’s own contribution is covered in who pays for care.

FNC and NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) are related but very different. CHC covers the full cost of care, including accommodation, for people whose needs are primarily health needs. FNC is a fixed weekly contribution towards nursing care only, with everything else still paid by your parent or the council under the normal means test.

You cannot receive both at once. If your parent gets CHC, the nursing care is already included. If they are refused CHC, FNC is usually the consolation outcome in a nursing home. And if their health deteriorates significantly, ask for a fresh CHC assessment: FNC today does not rule out CHC tomorrow.

Scotland provides free personal care, and a contribution towards nursing care, for people assessed as needing them, whether at home or in a care home. Accommodation costs in a care home are still payable and are means tested with Scottish thresholds.

So a nursing home in Scotland is not free, but the nursing and personal care elements are handled through the Scottish system rather than through England-style FNC. Check the current Scottish payment rates, as they change annually.

FNC mostly runs quietly in the background, but a few checks protect your parent’s money:

• Get written confirmation of whether the home’s quoted fee is before or after FNC
• Check invoices actually show the FNC once it is awarded
• If FNC was assessed late, ask about backdating to when your parent became eligible
• The rate usually changes each April, so check the bill adjusts when it does
• Ask the home what happens to fees and FNC during a hospital stay
• If your parent’s needs increase, ask for a CHC reassessment rather than assuming FNC is the ceiling