Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) | Home care

What is Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG)?

Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) is an amount set aside to cover your everyday expenses when you receive local authority arranged home care in England and Wales. This is a legal requirement laid out by the Care Act 2014.

To assess how much you should pay towards your care, local authorities conduct a financial means test. This looks at your income, savings and any other capital and assets you have.

They will also conduct a care needs assessment to plan the care and support you need.

Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) is set by the Department of Health and Social Care and is reviewed on an annual basis.

If you have your care arranged by the local authority (rather than funding it privately or using a local authority-calculated Personal Budget), they will use the information they have gathered about your needs and your finances to calculate your Minimum Income Guarantee.

In Scotland, home care is free so long as the person has been assessed as needing it through a needs assessment. 

Who does Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) apply to?

Minimum Income Guarantee is for adults who receive care and support other than in a care home that is arranged by the local authority. Care home residents have Personal Expenses Allowance (PEA).

You may have your care arranged by the local authority if:

• You have been assessed by the local authority as needing care through a care needs assessment and as needing help with funding your care through a financial means assessment. In this case, it is their duty to arrange care for you.
• You have been assessed as lacking the mental capacity to make informed decisions.

How much is Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG)?

The amounts vary widely depending on your age and circumstances.

The amounts can add up, so for example, if you are a single person of pension credit age, and you are eligible for both disability premium and enhanced disability premium, you’ll receive each of the payments simultaneously.

Your local authority will be able to explain exactly how much your MIG works out as for your circumstances.

The Minimum Income Guarantee amounts per week for the tax year 2025/26 are:

You have a child

• You are responsible for a child and you live in the same house or flat as them: £102.95 per child (child premium)

If you are single

• You are of pension credit age or over: £232.60
• You are aged between 25 and pension credit age: £112.50
• You are aged 18-24: £89.15
• You receive or would be eligible for disability premium: £49.65
• You receive or would be eligible for enhanced disability premium: £24.25
• You receive or would be eligible for carer premium: £53.25

You are in a couple

• One or both of you are of pension credit age or over: £177.55
• One or both of you are aged 18 or over: £88.35
• One of you receives or would be eligible for disability premium: £35.40
• One of you receives or would be eligible for enhanced disability premium: £17.45
• One of you receives or would be eligible for carer premium: £53.25

What is Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) taken from?

Minimum Income Guarantee comes from your income. It’s a set amount that you must be allowed to keep to cover your day to day living expenses, rather than being spent on your care. 

The local authority conducts a financial assessment to see how much you can pay towards your care. This will disregard:

• Your Minimum Income Guarantee
• Your housing costs – Rent, mortgage, council tax, building insurance, some bills such as water and gas. If you receive benefits to support you with these, the net amount will be disregarded at the discretion of the local authority.
• Disability Related Expenditure (DRE) – these are costs that are accrued on a regular basis due to your having a disability. You must show evidence such as receipts or invoices from the provider.
• Allowable expenses commitment – this can be any educational costs (provided that education is in your care and support plan) or an existing court order. It’s up to the local authority to decide what is an allowable expense. 

What can I spend Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) on?

Your Minimum Income Guarantee is there so you can still cover your daily living expenses, such as food, toiletries and utility bills that you aren’t receiving support for, like your phone and internet. 

However, there are no strict rules on what you can or can’t spend it on. It is essentially your money to spend on what you see fit.