Wirral care homes in new battle over fees

Feb 10 2010 by Liam Murphy, Birkenhead News

WIRRAL’S care home owners are preparing a legal challenge to plans by the council to freeze their fees and force them to re-tender for placements.

Wirral Carehome Association (WCA) says its members are facing significant cuts, and many homes could face closure after a secret council report recommended a second year of fee freezes.

The report to Wirral’s cabinet recommended nursing and care homes have their fees frozen this year and the homes be forced to re-tender for council contracts to care for people – including elderly and those with learning difficulties.

The authority says it pays “more for residential and nursing care than other local authorities in the North-West”.

The council’s ruling cabinet approved the plans following the “exempt” report and wrote to home owners informing them late last month of the second year of prices freezes – and giving notice of plans to retender for care contracts.

A spokesman for the WCA said homes which had refused to accept changes to fees in the past had not had new residents placed with them.

The authority has contracts with 274 nursing and residential homes, and says there are currently 411 vacancies in them – some 12%.

The WCA spokesman said the council was “going down the same path we went down last year” and they expect the council to tell them either they accept the new conditions or no residents would be placed with them.

He said: “Our argument is we have an independent report which says they should pay more.”

Next week Wirral Council will also be asked to vote on a notice of motion by Conservative councillors Tony Pritchard and Geoffrey Watt which speaks of the “potential risk to the well being of service users”.