The Fair Deal Scheme in Ireland: Costs, the 3-Year Cap and the Nursing Home Loan

The Fair Deal scheme, formally the Nursing Homes Support Scheme, is how most people in Ireland pay for long-term nursing home care. You contribute a share of your income and assets, and the Health Service Executive (HSE) pays the balance of the cost of care in a public, voluntary or approved private nursing home.

The scheme runs under the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act 2009. Your contribution is 80% of your assessable income plus 7.5% of the value of your assets each year, softened by an asset disregard, a 3-year cap on the family home and, since 1 February 2024, the right to keep 100% of the rental income from your own home while you are in care.

Information last verified on 20 July 2026. This page is general legal information for the Republic of Ireland, not legal advice.

What is the Fair Deal scheme?

Fair Deal is administered by the HSE under the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act 2009. To join the scheme you must be ordinarily resident in Ireland and be assessed as needing long-term nursing home care.

There are two assessments. The care needs assessment decides whether you need long-term residential care at all. The financial assessment then works out your personal contribution, and the HSE pays the difference between that contribution and the cost of your care.

The scheme covers care in public, voluntary and approved private nursing homes. If the care needs assessment finds you do not need long-term care, you must generally wait 6 months before reapplying, though you can apply sooner if your health or circumstances change.

How is your Fair Deal contribution calculated?

The financial assessment looks at both income and assets:

• 80% of your assessable income, after allowed deductions, and
• 7.5% of the value of your assets per year.

Allowed deductions from income include income tax, USC and PRSI, property tax and levies, home-loan interest, certain rent payments, health expenses, maintenance paid under a court order or separation agreement, the costs of a dependent child in full-time education, and qualifying redress payments.

Couples are assessed on half of their combined income and assets. In effect, the partner in care contributes 40% of the couple's income and 3.75% of their assets per year.

The €36,000 asset disregard

The first €36,000 of a single applicant's assets, or the first €72,000 of a couple's combined assets, is disregarded entirely. Only the value above that line goes into the 7.5% calculation.

Assets here means what you own, such as savings and property. The HSE applies the disregard to your cash assets first and then to your non-cash assets, which is why savings usually absorb it before any property does. Non-home assets are assessed for every year you remain in care.

How does the 3-year cap on the family home work?

Your principal residence is assessed at 7.5% per year for a maximum of 3 years. After that it drops out of the assessment, so it contributes at most 22.5% of its value towards your care.

For couples, the home is assessed at 3.75% per year, capped at 11.25% when one partner is in care, or 22.5% when both are. The cap applies whether or not you take out the nursing home loan.

If you sell the home while in care, the net sale proceeds inherit the 3-year cap, so selling does not restart or remove it. You do need to tell your local nursing homes support office if you sell. And if you were already in care for 3 years or more when you apply, the home is not assessed at 7.5% at all.

Farms and family businesses under the 3-year cap

A family farm or business can also qualify for the 3-year cap, but only if strict conditions are met:

• you apply to the HSE to appoint a family successor who commits to running the farm or business for at least 6 years
• the farm or business was actively run by you, your partner or the proposed successor for at least 3 of the last 5 years
• the HSE places a charge on the property.

The successor must be 18 or over and be your partner or a relative. Since 23 September 2024 the list of eligible relatives is wider and includes great-nephews, great-nieces, great-grandchildren, first cousins, and a child, grandchild or great-grandchild of a first cousin.

The nursing home loan (Ancillary State Support)

The 7.5% annual contribution on the home is owed even though the home is not producing cash. The optional nursing home loan solves this: you can defer the property-based contribution, and the HSE pays it on your behalf.

The statutory name is Ancillary State Support, under Part 3 (sections 15 to 20) of the 2009 Act. The loan is secured by a charge on the property and is available for land-based assets in Ireland. Collection is dealt with separately, later in the Act: section 26 makes the Revenue Commissioners the Executive's collection agent. The deferred amount is then repaid to Revenue after your death, usually out of the estate during the probate process. A surviving partner can apply to defer repayment further, for their lifetime.

Passing on the home after a period in care also raises inheritance tax questions. Our capital acquisitions tax guide covers the dwelling house exemption, including the rule that excuses a beneficiary's 6-year occupation condition where they later need nursing home care themselves, and you can estimate a beneficiary's bill with the Ireland inheritance tax calculator.

Can I rent out my home while I am in care?

Yes. Since 1 February 2024 you can apply to keep 100% of the rental income from your principal private residence, with that income excluded from the financial assessment altogether.

The conditions: you make a PPR Rental Income application, the tenancy is registered with the RTB or is exempt from registration, and you have a Revenue notice of assessment for the rental income.

The 100% rule applies only to your own home. Rental income from any other property remains assessable, contributing at the normal 80% income rate.

Applying for Fair Deal, step by step

1. Check the basics. You must be ordinarily resident in Ireland and need long-term nursing home care.
2. Care needs assessment. The HSE assesses whether long-term residential care is the right option. If you are refused, you can reapply after 6 months, or sooner if your health or circumstances change.
3. Financial assessment. You declare your income and assets. Assets or income you transferred in the previous 5 years are still counted, so gifting the house shortly before applying does not reduce the contribution.
4. Optional loan application. If you want to defer the property-based contribution, apply for Ancillary State Support at the same time or later.
5. If capacity is an issue. A specified person, such as a family member or an attorney acting under a registered enduring power of attorney, can apply on behalf of someone who cannot apply themselves.

A worked example

Máire is single, owns her home worth €300,000, has €56,000 in savings, and has pension income of €20,000 a year. This illustration ignores her individual income deductions and sets the €36,000 disregard against her savings.

The home element stops after 3 years because of the cap: at most €67,500, which is 22.5% of €300,000, is ever assessed on the house. Máire could defer that entire element with the nursing home loan and pay only the income and savings contributions as she goes. A real assessment would first deduct her allowable expenses from income, so her actual figures could be lower.

For all of our Irish legal guides, see the Ireland hub.

Frequently asked questions

This page is general information about the Nursing Homes Support Scheme in the Republic of Ireland and is not legal or financial advice. Contributions depend on your full financial circumstances, so confirm your own figures with the HSE Nursing Homes Support Scheme office and speak to a solicitor before signing loan or succession paperwork.