Since the introduction of the Community Care & Health (Scotland) Act 2002, COSLA has produced annual guidance which defines a set of principles to underpin the development of local charging policies for social care support for people at home.  The Guidance is subject to ongoing revision as appropriate, on an annual basis or as policy develops. It is managed by the COSLA Charging Guidance Working Group.  Any change to the guidance requires approval by the political leadership of COSLA. The National Guidance is intended to assist Local Authorities and Integration Authorities to determine whether to charge a person for social care support at home, and in calculating how much - which is usually done through a financial assessment process.  The Guidance describes a number of best practice steps which should be taken when developing local charging policy, taking into consideration the full range of legal, financial and policy drivers. Charging policies at both a national and local level should be accessible, transparent, fair and equitable, and developed from a human rights perspective.

The Guidance for 2023/24 can be viewed here.

One of our policy ambitions is to facilitate comparability and openness with respect to the non-residential social care (community care) charging policies of local authorities across Scotland.

This page comprises links to all member councils current charging policies.

Efforts will be made to ensure that links are revised as they are introduced.