Adult Social Care Glossary, v 0.6

8.36 Where the care planning process has determined that a person's needs are best met in a care home, the local authority must provide for the person's preferred choice of accommodation, subject to certain conditions. This also extends to shared lives, supported living and extra care housing settings. Determining the appropriate type of accommodation should be made with the adult as part of the care and support planning process, therefore this choice only applies between providers of the same type.

8.37 The local authority must ensure that the person has a genuine choice of accommodation. It must ensure that at least one accommodation option is available and affordable within the person's personal budget and it should ensure that there is more than one of those options. However, a person must also be able to choose alternative options, including a more expensive setting, where a third party or in certain circumstances the resident is willing and able to pay the additional cost ('top-up'). However, an additional payment must always be optional and never as a result of commissioning failures leading to a lack of choice. Detailed guidance is set out in Annex A which a local authority must have regard to.

If you live in a care home and your fees are paid by your local council, you have the right to say where you would like to live. This can include a care home outside your local area, if that is what you want. The council should try to arrange for you to have a place in the home you prefer, as long as it meets your needs, does not cost more than the council would usually expect to pay, and the home has a space for you. If your choice of home costs more than the council expects to pay, you can still have a place there if you or someone else (such as a member of your family) is willing to pay the difference in cost.