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NHS Continuing Healthcare
CHC Funding Withdrawn at Review
Why reviews happen, and what to do when funding is taken away
Can CHC funding be taken away?
Yes. NHS Continuing Healthcare eligibility is kept under review, usually three months after the initial decision and annually after that, and funding can be withdrawn where a review concludes the person no longer has a primary health need. A withdrawal can be challenged in the same way as an eligibility decision, within six months.
Plain English
For families and professionals
England and Wales
National coverage
Registered professionals
Written and reviewed
A withdrawal often lands harder than an initial refusal, because a care package is already built around the funding. The immediate questions are what the review actually found, and whether the evidence supports it. This guide describes the system in England. Wales operates its own Continuing NHS Healthcare framework through health boards.
When funding comes under review
Reviews happen as a matter of course:
- Usually three months after the initial eligibility decision
- Annually after that
- When there is reason to think the person's needs have changed
How to prepare
If withdrawal is proposed or decided:
- Ask for the review Decision Support Tool and the written reasons for the change
- Compare the review scoring against the original DST and the current care records
- Ask what has actually changed in the person's needs, in concrete terms
- Note the decision date: the six month challenge window applies
- Keep the care arrangements documented while the challenge runs
Where people often go wrong
- Assuming a review is a formality and not preparing for it
- Accepting withdrawal where the needs have not genuinely changed, only the description of them
- Presenting stability that depends on the care package as evidence the needs have gone: a well-managed need is still a need
- Missing the six month window in the confusion of rearranging care
- Assuming a review is a formality and not preparing for it
- Accepting withdrawal where the needs have not genuinely changed, only the description of them
- Presenting stability that depends on the care package as evidence the needs have gone: a well-managed need is still a need
- Missing the six month window in the confusion of rearranging care
What a withdrawal decision should show
A withdrawal is an eligibility decision like any other, and it should be supported by a review Decision Support Tool and clear written reasons. The comparison that matters is between the original scoring, the review scoring and the current records: if the needs picture is materially the same but the scores have moved, that gap is the substance of a challenge.
The challenge route mirrors the eligibility route: local resolution with the Integrated Care Board first, then the NHS England Independent Review Panel where local resolution does not resolve it.
A social work led multidisciplinary practice
Nellie Supports is a social work led multidisciplinary specialist practice working across England and Wales, operating through a permanent, full-time employed team that has completed more than 11,000 assessments. Our NHS Continuing Healthcare work prepares and presents the evidence of need at every stage of the process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does care stop as soon as funding is withdrawn?
A withdrawal decision should come with written reasons and a managed transition of responsibility. Ask, in writing, how the change will be handled and on what timescale.
Is challenging a withdrawal different from challenging a refusal?
The route is the same: local resolution within six months, then the Independent Review Panel. The evidence work centres on what has genuinely changed since eligibility was granted.
The person is stable because of the care package. Does that count against them?
It should not. Needs that are well managed by the current arrangements are still needs, and the review should assess them on that basis.
This guide is general information about NHS Continuing Healthcare in England, not legal advice, and does not create a professional relationship. Nellie Supports provides independent social work assessment, evidence and advocacy support. We do not provide regulated legal advice, and where a legal remedy is needed we will say so and support your solicitor's work.