Devon County Council claim vindication over Judicial Review

A High Court ruling into care home fees set by Devon County Council has resulted in both parties involved claiming the Judicial Review to rule in their favour.

Yesterday carehome.co.uk reported on a press release from QualitySolicitors Burroughs Day, which claimed “an important victory” for care providers over how local authorities set care home fees. However, Devon County Council feel this reading of the Review’s findings to be a selective view of the judgement, considering that two of the three contested issues were ruled in the local authority’s favour.

Although the Court found that the council’s consultation process should have been more thorough, the Review had also been called to ascertain whether the council had failed to give due regard to 1. the cost, and 2. the quality of care, had been overlooked during the fee setting process, but on both counts the Court found the council had acted lawfully.

The local authority also points out that even on point 3, regarding the consultation, the council was not ordered to repeat the process.

The council’s director for social care, Jennie Stephens, commented:

“We welcome the Court’s decision, which has confirmed in our favour that we did have due regard to the cost of care and to the quality of care when setting our fees.

“This means that the fees we paid in 2011/12 were appropriate, that they took into account the quality of care that would be provided, and that we will not be required to revisit that decision.

“However, we accept the judge’s decision on the third point that we did not consult with all home owners as fully as we might, which is why prior to this hearing we had already incorporated changes to our 2012/13 consultation process. It was because of this third issue that we are only required to meet 50% of the claimants’ costs.

“I hope that we and our partners in the independent sector can now move on, working together to bring about the best outcomes for people in Devon.”

Cabinet member responsible for adult social care, councillor Stuart Barker, was also keen to point out further actions that the authority has taken this year to support care development, having increased care home fees and making new funds available for home owners to develop their businesses:

“The Council relies on private providers to deliver the vast majority of the vital residential care for older people across Devon eligible for the Council’s support.

“Home owners, like everyone else are feeling the economic pinch. Over the last few years they have been asked to become more efficient and cut their costs as the public purse is squeezed.

“However, having consulted widely with home owners, we fully understand the pressures on the market and that is why we decided to substantially increase our fees for residential care over the coming year.

“Devon has a growing need for homes dealing with more specialist and complex care cases. Our new £800,000 fund has been set up to help home owners to access the capital needed to help them to adapt their businesses to meet this future demand.”