Nursing association blasts local councils for 'bully-boy' tactics on care cuts

Registered Nursing Home Association (RNHA) chief executive Frank Ursell has warned local authorities who use older people’s care budgets to balance their books that they will face legal consequences.

Speaking out for care homes who have been pressured into providing care for less than its actual cost, the Association has reacted to a judgement made against Redcar and Cleveland Council, who the High Court ruled to be unlawful in attempting to secure a cut in care home fees for 2012/13.

Mr Ursell says: “Councils that kid themselves they can get away with unlawfully made cuts on older people’s services had better think again. This judgement in the High Court makes it clear that councils must pay fees that are sufficient to meet the assessed care needs of older people going into nursing homes. It is also against the law for councils to stop sending new residents to homes that resist the cuts.

“The Redcar case is a victory for fair play for older people who rely on local authorities to meet their care costs in full. Councils have statutory obligations and cannot discard those obligations at will.”

Other councils to face legal action in the High Court over the last 18 months include Sefton, Newcastle, Leicester and Devon.

Mr Ursell continues: “The fact that there have had to be so many judicial reviews of how local authorities make their funding decisions for older people suggests that many councillors and senior officers just don’t understand or accept their obligations.

“Some councils are so blinkered and obstinate that they are ready to force care home providers to go to court rather than simply pay them a fair rate to begin with. The Redcar and Cleveland case may be just the jolt that local government needs. Councils should be concentrating their time, resources and efforts on caring for older people, not on expensive law suits. When are they going to learn? The bully-boy tactics have got to stop once and for all.”