NHS-Funded Nursing Care

NHS-Funded Nursing Care applies only to residents in registered nursing homes in England who have been assessed as needing registered nursing care but do not meet the higher threshold for full NHS Continuing Healthcare. The 2025/26 standard rate is £235.88 per week, paid directly to the nursing home by the Integrated Care Board (ICB). FNC is not means-tested and is paid regardless of the resident's financial position. Residents who receive FNC but believe they may qualify for full CHC can request a formal CHC assessment. The FNC rate is reviewed annually each April. In Wales, the equivalent contribution is called the Registered Nursing Care Contribution (RNCC); Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate arrangements. Care homes must not charge residents for the element of their fees that FNC is intended to cover.

In practice, FNC is what you fall back on when a full Continuing Healthcare assessment concludes there is no primary health need. Because the payment goes to the home rather than to the resident, the only way to know you are receiving it is to check the fee breakdown. A self-funder should see the FNC contribution deducted from the invoice, not quietly absorbed into a higher headline fee.

Worked example: Margaret moves into a registered nursing home charging £1,300 a week. Her CHC assessment concludes she is not eligible, but she is assessed as needing registered nursing care, so FNC is awarded. Her invoice should show the gross weekly fee less the FNC contribution, with Margaret liable only for the balance. Her son compares three months of invoices, spots that the home increased its fee by the same amount in the month FNC started, and challenges it in writing. He also asks for the CHC decision reasons, because the assessment that produced FNC is the same one that refused CHC, and it can be reviewed.

The pitfalls are consistent. FNC is only available in a registered nursing home — it does not apply in a residential care home without nursing, in supported living, or at home. It is not means-tested, so it should never be affected by savings, and it does not reduce any local authority contribution the resident is otherwise entitled to. Many families also assume FNC is a consolation prize that closes the CHC question permanently; it is not. Needs change, and a further CHC assessment can be requested at any time, particularly after a hospital admission or a marked deterioration.

FNC sits directly below NHS Continuing Healthcare and above the council-funded route that follows a financial assessment; where a property is involved, a deferred payment agreement may also be relevant. Read our guides to NHS-funded nursing care and care home fees together, and always ask for the fee breakdown in writing.