News

Care home provider claims council owes £30,000 in unpaid fees

27 Sep 2026 4 minute read

Managing director of Meddyg Care Kevin Edwards.

Richard Evans, Local Democracy Reporter

A care home provider has claimed it is owed £30,000 by a council following a dispute over fees for residents.

Meddyg Care, which runs a 35-bed dementia care home in Rhyl, says Denbighshire County Council has continued paying last year’s rate while the two sides have been unable to agree fees for the current financial year.

The council strongly disputes the company’s allegations and says the matter is the subject of pre-action correspondence and could lead to legal proceedings.

Kevin Edwards, managing director of Meddyg Care, said the company had been in discussions with the authority since April and had provided financial information to support its case for an increase.

He said: “We have obviously invoiced them the fee that we want to be paid, and we are running at a £30,000 deficit.

“That £30,000 is the difference between a basic fee the council was paying last year for council-funded residents and the uplift they have not paid us for this financial year, so we are still being paid last year’s fee.”

Mr Edwards said the shortfall related to a small number of residents over six months and argued that increasing staffing costs were adding to the financial pressure.

“We have got to pay staff – mandated by the Welsh Government – the Real Living Wage, and so right now we are having to bankroll the care sector,” he said.

“At the end of the day our other homes at the moment are supporting the Rhyl home.”

Meddyg Care took over the Rhyl home in October last year and also operates homes in Porthmadog and Criccieth, as well as domiciliary care company Help at Home in Gwynedd.

Mr Edwards also raised concerns about pre-placement agreements for residents, support from mental health teams and what he claimed were delays of up to six months in assessments for nursing care.

He said the funding dispute was “very frustrating when you are trying to provide the best possible service, but you can’t do it with the funding they are giving”.

Mr Edwards also claimed there was a growing difference between the fees paid for residents by Denbighshire and neighbouring Conwy County Council.

He said: “We have gone from what was probably a £7,000 funding gap per person last year between Denbighshire and Conwy funded residents to a £12,000 gap. The gap is getting wider and wider.

“Conwy did a proper cost of care exercise, and they pay the true cost. They pay a fair price.”

Financial pressures

Mr Edwards claimed other care homes were facing similar financial pressures and contrasted the situation with the company’s experience in Gwynedd and Conwy.

He has called on Deputy Minister for Social Care and Mental Health Delyth Jewell to intervene and for an inquiry into what he described as social care funding issues in Denbighshire.

Mr Edwards also argued that delays in assessments could make it more difficult to discharge patients from hospital and place additional pressure on the NHS.

He said: “We’re seeing these challenges every single day – people needing to be assessed, families contacting the home asking when it can take place, saying they are running out of money.

“It’s having a wider impact on the families, worried about making sure their loved ones are being funded and they are in the right place.”

Legal proceedings

A Denbighshire County Council spokeswoman said: “The Council strongly refutes the allegations made by the care home provider.

“The Council can confirm that it has received correspondence from the care home provider’s representatives and has provided a substantive response to the matters raised.

“As this matter remains subject to ongoing pre-action correspondence and the potential for legal proceedings, it would be inappropriate for the Council to comment further on the specifics of the dispute at this stage.”

She said the council remained committed to progressing its cost-of-care exercise through the appropriate processes and in accordance with its statutory obligations.

“The Council will continue to robustly protect the interests of the public purse whilst ensuring that public funds are used responsibly and in the best interests of residents and taxpayers,” she added.

The Welsh Government declined to comment.

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