North-South care fees divide sees care homes in North Wales in 'relegation zone'

Welsh councils are fuelling a North-South divide when it comes to the fees they pay for care home residents, with a care leader saying it puts care settings in North Wales in the ‘relegation zone’.

Care homes in North Wales get up to £11,000 a year less per resident

An investigation by Care Forum Wales (CFW), which represents care homes, has revealed that care fees paid by local authorities in North Wales are up to £11,000 a year less per person than fees paid by councils in South Wales.

“North Wales used to be the top of the league in terms of care home fees and now we are in the relegation zone”, said Care Forum Wales chair Mario Kreft. He describes a “growing chasm” between the fees paid by councils in the north compared to most authorities in South Wales. Torfaen Council has announced large rises in their care rates – 17 per cent for residential care and 25 per cent for nursing care. The move means that a 50-bed care home in Torfaen will get £546,000 a year more for providing residential care for the same levels of care than a similar-sized home in Anglesey, Wrexham and Flintshire.

In Denbighshire and Gwynedd, there is an extra £494,000 a year and £444,600 more paid, than there is for a care home in Conwy.

Welsh local authorities have received £36.5 million to meet the extra costs of paying staff the Real Living Wage of £9.90 an hour. But despite an overall rise of 9.4 per cent in local authority funding, Care Forum Wales has discovered rises in care fee levels have almost all been lower at six to seven per cent in North Wales.

Mr Kreft added: “It was clear that local authorities in North Wales were choosing not to pass on the extra funding to the front line of social care."

Abbey Dale House owner: ‘It’s disgraceful and very unfair’

Clive Nadin, owner and registered manager of Abbey Dale House care home in Colwyn Bay, said: “It’s disgraceful and very unfair.

“In calculating the fees in Conwy they haven’t taken into account all our costs which is what Torfaen must have done. All local authorities have had more money to pay for the extra costs of the Real Living Wage.

“All of our costs are going up and we just don’t have a clue how high they are going to go which is creating a lot of uncertainty. It is a very worrying time and the viability of all homes is at risk to be honest.

“A care home located around 200 yards from us called Guys Cliffe has just closed. If we have more care home closures, we are going to end up with people stranded and nowhere to go.”

Glan Rhos manager: ‘Something’s got to give’

Kim Ombler, director and registered manager of the Glan Rhos Nursing Home at Brynsiencyn, Anglesey, is one of a number of care home managers refusing to accept the “ruinously low” rates.

Kim Ombler said: “We are not going to accept the rates set by Anglesey and Gwynedd Councils and we have written to them to tell them that. What we need as a bare minimum is lower than they pay themselves for looking after residents.

“This year we are taking a stand and telling them we are not going to accept it.

“We have been paying the Real Living Wage since last the end year but the cost of living is going up as well. We are losing people from the sector because they have had enough after the nightmare of the past two years.

“We are now looking to recruit staff from abroad again which is something we have done once before. Something has got to give. If we accept the rates the councils are offering it’s not going to help in terms of our viability.

“If the fees are not set a realistic rate there won’t be any care homes left. We have to make a stand now and if everybody does the same thing they will have to listen.”

When I shop at Tesco I don’t say ‘I can’t afford to pay the full price’

Care home managers say the fees the council pay themselves don’t include a lot of the capital expenditure which care homes have to find from the fees received.

Ceri Roberts, managing director of Cariad Care Homes which runs the Plas Gwyn Home in Criccieth and the Bodawen home in Porthmadog, said: “How on earth can they justify that vulnerable people are valued far less than somebody in South Wales?

“If I relocated our two homes, which can cater for up to 78 people, to Torfaen I would be in line to receive £770,000 than the fees being proposed by Gwynedd."

Ms Roberts has written to Gwynedd Council to say that she cannot accept the fees that they are paying because it doesn’t cover the cost of care. The managing director has calculated the real cost of care per resident is around £960 a week but “we are asking for considerably less, around £800.

"I have informed them what we will be charging them this year. If we can maintain high occupancy at around 98 per cent – and it would be impossible to achieve more than that – we can just about afford to get by.

“Gwynedd Council will certainly be paying in excess of £800 per resident per week to their own homes, so they know the true cost of running a care home but they’re coming in way below that.

“When I shop at Tesco I don’t tell them at the till I can’t afford to pay the full price."

‘It’s really demoralising’

According to Bethan Mascarenhas, who runs The Old Vicarage care home in Llangollen, most care homes are at breaking point. Beth Mascarenhas said: “We have 17 beds so it would be a huge amount - £170,000 more a year for us to do all sorts, including better equipment, better activities and paying our team better.

“It’s like councils are turning care homes in North Wales into areas of deprivation.

“It’s really demoralising.

"We’re in an impossible situation and as a care provider I don’t have a quality of life. I’ve struggled over the last two years and buck stops with you. We’re all exhausted and I’ve not taken a holiday in two years because I don’t want to leave my team. There comes a breaking point and I think most homes are quite close to that.”