The distinction matters because the Fair Deal financial assessment looks at a person's income and assets. The HSE specifically includes Approved Retirement Funds among the cash assets considered in the assessment, while pensions are separately treated as income. Understanding that difference can help families prepare the right information and avoid making assumptions about how an ARF will affect the assessment.
How Does a Fair Deal Assess Your Finances?
The Fair Deal Scheme, formally the Nursing Home Support Scheme (NHSS) in Ireland, uses a financial assessment to determine how much a person may contribute towards the cost of their nursing home care.
The assessment considers income and assets. Income can include pensions, employment income, social welfare payments, rental income, dividends and interest. Assets can include property, savings, investments and other financial resources. The assessment can also take relevant assets outside Ireland into account.
This distinction becomes particularly important where someone has an ARF. An ARF is a retirement product, but the HSE's Fair Deal documentation does not simply place every retirement-related financial resource under one heading. Approved Retirement Funds are specifically identified as cash assets within the financial assessment.
Where Does an ARF Fit Into the Fair Deal Assessment?
The HSE's current financial-assessment guidance specifically lists Approved Retirement Funds as cash assets. Other examples in this category include savings, deposits, stocks and shares, bonds and certain other financial assets.
The Fair Deal Scheme application documentation asks applicants to provide information about relevant financial assets, including ARFs. Supporting information can include an annual benefit statement, policy documentation and a current statement showing the fund's value or surrender/encashment value.
In practical terms, this means a family should not assume that an ARF sits outside the Fair Deal scheme financial assessment simply because it originated from a pension.
The relevant figure is not necessarily the amount originally paid into the ARF. The HSE documentation asks for information that establishes its current financial value at the relevant point in the assessment. That makes it important to have up-to-date ARF statements available when preparing a Fair Deal scheme application.
Is the ARF Counted as Income Too?
The HSE separately identifies pension income as part of the financial assessment. At the same time, it specifically identifies an ARF as a cash asset.
These are two different parts of the assessment.
The value of a financial asset and income received by a person are not automatically the same thing. A family therefore needs to distinguish between the value of the ARF itself and any income or withdrawals that may arise from a person's wider financial arrangements.
This has become a genuine point of concern for families. A 2026 reader question published by The Irish Times, for example, asked whether an ARF could effectively be counted both as an asset and through income being drawn from it.
The safest approach is not to assume that an online explanation of ARF withdrawals tells you exactly how your own Fair Deal scheme financial assessment will be calculated. The HSE assesses the applicant's financial circumstances using the information and documentation provided, and the treatment of particular income and assets needs to be understood within that assessment.
Where a family is unsure how an ARF withdrawal or other pension arrangement should be disclosed, it is better to establish this before completing the application rather than relying on an assumption about "double counting".
Does Having an ARF Affect Your Eligibility for Fair Deal?
Having an ARF does not, by itself, mean that someone cannot receive support under the Fair Deal Scheme in Ireland.
The relevant question is the person's overall financial position and how that position is assessed under the scheme.
The HSE explains that the financial assessment determines the applicant's contribution towards the cost of care. Where the assessed contribution is greater than the cost of the nursing home, the person may not be eligible for financial support under the Fair Deal at that time.
This is an important distinction. An ARF should not be viewed in isolation and treated as an automatic reason for either qualification or exclusion.
For someone with an ARF, the assessment needs to be considered alongside other income, savings, property, and relevant financial assets. The circumstances of a spouse or partner may also be relevant where the application involves a couple.
What If Your Spouse Has an ARF? How Will It Impact Nursing Home Support Scheme
Coverage for Another Spouse
The Fair Deal application process asks for financial information relating to both the applicant and spouse or partner, where applicable. The assessment, therefore, cannot always be understood by looking only at the nursing home resident's bank account or pension statement.
This is particularly important where a couple has arranged their retirement finances jointly over many years.
For example, one spouse may have entered nursing home care while the other remains at home and continues to draw income from an ARF. The relevant question is not simply whether an ARF exists. The family needs to understand how the applicant's and spouse's respective income and assets fit within the financial assessment.
That is one reason it is worth gathering the financial information for both spouses before making assumptions about what the eventual contribution will be.
Should You Withdraw Money From an ARF Before Applying for Fair Deal Scheme in Ireland?
This is a question families may reasonably consider when they discover that an ARF forms part of the financial assessment.
It is also one where caution is needed.
Withdrawing money from an ARF should not be treated as a straightforward way of changing the Fair Deal scheme financial assessment. Moving money from one financial arrangement to another does not necessarily remove the underlying financial resource, and families should not make pension decisions solely on the assumption that doing so will produce a more favourable Fair Deal outcome.
The Fair Deal Scheme application in Ireland requires applicants to provide information about their financial circumstances and supporting documentation. Where assets have been transferred or otherwise changed, the circumstances surrounding those changes can also matter.
The better approach is to understand how the existing ARF and its associated income are treated before making a significant financial decision. An ARF withdrawal can have consequences beyond the Fair Deal assessment, including consequences for a person's retirement income and wider financial planning.
What ARF Documents Will You Need for a Fair Deal Application?
If an applicant has an ARF, it is sensible to have current documentation available rather than waiting until the HSE requests further information.
The HSE's application documentation refers to evidence such as an annual benefit statement, policy document and a current statement showing the ARF's fund value or surrender/encashment value.
The exact documents required can depend on the applicant's circumstances, so the current HSE application requirements should always be checked when preparing an application.
Having clear, up-to-date information also makes it easier to distinguish the value of the ARF from other pension income and financial assets when the assessment is being completed.
The Important Point About ARFs and Fair Deal
An ARF does not sit outside the Fair Deal financial assessment simply because it originated from a pension. The HSE specifically identifies Approved Retirement Funds as cash assets, while pension income is dealt with separately within the financial assessment.
For families, the important point is therefore not simply to ask whether an ARF "counts". It is to understand how the ARF, any relevant income and the family's other financial circumstances fit together within the assessment.
That is particularly important before making decisions about withdrawing, transferring or restructuring retirement funds. The most reliable starting point is the current HSE guidance and the information required for the actual Fair Deal application.
