Hello Oopsadaisy1, thank you for replying. I am definitely thinking of saving up just in case. I am glad your MIL is now safe and warm and being looked after, but imagine it was very stressful for you and your husband overseeing the sale of the family home.
I'm asking because my lovely widowed neighbour is 84, lives alone, and has recently told me she wants to go into a home as she feels really weak. She has been assessed for home care, and is paying £22 per hour for carers to come in, but I think she is too worried to live alone any longer. She said she has 'some savings' - but I've no idea how much you need to be accepted somewhere.
As you say, as I own my own home I'd be a self funding client. What has worried me was a post on here where someone had been told they had to have enough funding for a full two years before being accepted. At £1400 per week, that would be £145,000. I have heard there is a proposed cap of £85K on the 'care' part, I assume my pension would go towards the 'living' part.