News

UKHCA cautions councils over homecare funding

In response to evidence we have received from a number of UKHCA members of councils cutting contract prices and reducing homecare services, we have now written formally to over 750 officers and elected members of every council in England and Wales. (This has been featured in the social care press.)

We emphasise the importance of homecare to service users and the need to protect their interests and well-being. However, the aim of our letter is to convince councils to get their base-line pricing right and avoid swingeing cost-cutting.

We point out that judicial reviews are complex and create unnecessary public expense. They are also limited in what they can achieve, often being about challenging contract process rather than content.

We highlighted to councils the increasing appetite of care agencies to use the courts to remedy the catastrophically deteriorating funding of homecare delivered by independent and voluntary sector providers, and queried whether authorities have undertaken an accurate assessment of the legitimate, current and future costs faced by homecare providers.

Drawing councils’ attention to recent judicial reviews against Sefton and Pembrokeshire County Councils and a recent announcement by Staffordshire County Council that it would review care fees for residential services, we reminded councils that the funding of homecare services has also been vulnerable to public sector spending cuts and is an essential component of every councils’ response to the increasing number of challenges being mounted in the courts.

Advising councils that legal challenges carry considerable financial and resource costs for both parties long before they reach the courts, we proposed six key issues which councils should consider carefully when responding to their budgetary constraints, asking each authority’s Chief Executive to respond with the council's current assessment of its position:

1. Whether the authority has recently undertaken an accurate assessment of the legitimate, current and future costs faced by homecare providers, and whether the authority operates a fee negotiation arrangement that recognises these costs in full.
2. Whether the authority has breached existing clauses in contracts, particularly in relation to inflationary up-lifts; or has exercised unilateral rights to vary or hold contract prices at existing levels.
3. Whether the authority has engaged in reassessment of homecare packages that have resulted in a general reduction in visit times; or has adopted a per-minute billing system which has reduced providers’ income; without a comparable reduction in providers’ operating costs.
4. Whether the authority’s contracting arrangements have added additional costs for providers, which have not been reflected by an increase in the contract price.
5. Whether service users receiving direct payments can realistically afford to buy regulated care services, if they choose to, that will meet their assessed needs.
6. Whether contract terms and prices could be found by the courts to have created a reduction in the quality of service provision, which may put citizens who use care services at risk.

We would comment that we consider it regrettable we have had to raise the matter formally with councils, on behalf of providers, as we would far rather providers and commissioners were able to work together in a spirit of co-operation and mutual understanding.

However, we believe the ability of providers to deliver safe, dignified and sustainable services to people in their own homes is under extreme pressure by the cost-cutting actions of many councils and it is in the public interest to reverse the trends that threaten the stability of the homecare sector - without recourse to the courts.

We encourage members to share their views, and keep us informed of issues that concern you locally, so please email UKHCA’s Policy and Campaigns Team at policy@ukhca.co.uk.

Kind regards
Colin Angel
UKHCA Policy and Campaigns Director