Care homes accuse councils of withholding rescue funds

CARE home associations have accused councils of withholding millions in emergency funding that could have been used to save lives.

Prof Martin Green, of the charity Care England, said councils were refusing to give money to cover costs such as personal protective equipment (PPE), extra staffing and cleaning supplies.

The Government has pledged £1.6billion to local authorities to help them respond to coronavirus, the bulk of which was intended to help social care services.

Prof Green said very little of this money was trickling down to care homes and described the behaviour of local authorities as “appalling”.

“Councils are using it to pay their own staff,” he said. “They’re telling us to wait, but we need the money now.”

Care providers had expected councils to increase the fees they pay them by 10 per cent to help homes cope with the extra costs of the pandemic.

It is up to individual councils to decide the exact amount and The Daily Telegraph has learnt that some councils have only raised fees by 5 per cent.

Even a 10 per cent uplift may not be enough to save struggling care operators. Nadra Ahmed, of the National Care Association, which represents care providers, said the pressures of a global pandemic could increase costs for care homes by around 40 per cent and that this figure would likely increase over time. She warned that some care homes could go bust.

Many homes are also reporting that they are unable to protect residents from coronavirus because they cannot get enough face masks and gowns for staff. Mark Topps, manager of Eastern County Care, a care provider in Essex, said the virus would spread through homes like wildfire if staff are not given more PPE.