Councils buy care services ‘on the cheap’

COUNCILS IN the UK have been accused of “buying homecare services for older people on the cheap”.

The United Kingdom Homecare Association (UKHCA) said its report “exposes the scale of underfunding” of the sector and is calling on the Government to fund care at a more sustainable level in the forthcoming Budget.

It claims councils in Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care Trusts are “continuing to exploit their dominant purchasing power”, leaving many older and disabled people without the support they need to remain independent.

Using data obtained through freedom of information requests, it found the average prices paid for homecare in the UK is just £16.12 an hour – almost £2 an hour less than UKHCA’s minimum price for homecare of £18.01.

UKHCA, the professional association for homecare providers, said it calculated that the sector needs at least £402m a year to ensure that homecare workers receive the statutory National Living Wage, while also ensuring that homecare providers can meet their statutory obligations.

This would mean the size of the deficit this year would be £921m if national governments and local councils were to commit to raising the status of the homecare workforce to at least the independently calculated Real Living Wage.

And neither of these figures account for the additional costs of people currently going without care and support, it said.