Family-run care home hit by £70,000 bill after Budget that “discriminates against older people”

A family-run care home is facing extra staffing costs of £70,000 because of Budget measures which amount to “discrimination against older people”, it’s claimed.

Bosses at the Orme View Residential Home on the picturesque West Shore of Llandudno have painted a gloomy picture of what the increases will mean to the social care sector – and to the bed-blocking crisis within the NHS.

Steffan Robbins, who manages and owns the home with his wife Bethany, supported by his mum and dad, Ian and Carol-lynn, warned the extra burden will force a number of care homes to close.

Meanwhile, he said, many older owners will be tempted to sell-up and get out of social care because of the “ludicrous” policies imposed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

Campaign

The family are backing a campaign by Care Forum Wales (CFW) calling for social care to receive an NHS-style exemption from the National Insurance increases or emergency financial support to stop care homes and domiciliary care companies going bust.

With a 1.2 per cent rise in Employer National Insurance contributions and a cut to the Secondary Threshold to £5,000 alongside the five per cent increase in the Real Living Wage to £12.60 per hour which, according to CFW, amounts to a “whopping 37 % increase”.

Taken together, the Budget measure added up to a giant £150 million funding gap in Wales.

The looming crisis has spurred CFW to launch its Save Social Care, Save the NHS campaign to highlight the problem, and the campaign is winning support from care home owners throughout Wales.

CFW chair Mario Kreft MBE said: “This disastrous Budget is tantamount to discrimination against vulnerable elderly people and promotes inequality.

“All of this comes against a backdrop of the post code lottery of fees which means there are widely varying rates across Wales for providing the same level of care which is subject to the same regulations.

“This unfair and unjust extra cost can only have negative consequences – unintended or otherwise.”

The owners of Orme View Residential Home have added their support to the campaign – and warned care homes could close down unless urgent action was taken to exempt social care from the National Insurance hikes.

They took over the home, which has 14 residents, two years ago and employs three full-time and 17 part-time workers.

Steffan said: “Our staffing costs for this financial year were £320,000 and going into next year the costs will be about £390,000.

“That extra £70,000 comes from the National Insurance and wage increases.

“It also factors in features of the Employment Rights Bill which is going through at the moment such as day one sickness rules.

“To put it into context, we pay the Real Living Wage plus 60p, and this year our National Insurance contribution is about £20,000, and next year it will be about £40,000 – so it will have doubled.”

Steffan said the care sector relied on a large workforce, and regulations meant staffing levels could not be reduced.

He said: “The regulations are the regulations, and we have to conform to them.

“I would happily sit down with anyone and ask them what fat do I trim. Do we have less heating on, do we have less food, do we have less staff?

“None of those is a viable option.

“We are not a multi-national company with lots of middle tier management, we are a very leanly-run, family-orientated business. We are here every day, living and breathing it.

“I think we all already had an indication the National Insurance contributions would go up to 15 per cent, so we were prepared for that as providers.

“But the biggest impact on us was dropping the threshold to £5,000 because the majority of our workforce are part-time who were previously exempt, so we are now having to pay a lot more in National Insurance than we did previously.”

“Impossible task”

Steffan explained that while the Government had made the decision to increase National Insurance contributions and the Real Living Wage, it would be local councils who would be facing the extra costs as care homes increased their fees to try to cover the shortfall.

He said: “It puts us in a very difficult position because we have to try to balance the ability to keep delivering the service that’s available without also increasing our fees beyond a reasonable amount – and that’s becoming an impossible task.

“We use local providers, such as local butcher’s, and they have already given an indication they will be passing their costs on to us, and I understand entirely.”

He said homes were already charging top-up fees from families and friends to cover the costs of care in residential homes to ensure they remained financially viable, and that’s before they have to contend with the additional costs caused by the Budget.

Steffan said: “I think the extra costs are ludicrous. You have a sector which is already under pressure which has had to increase costs and you’re now adding an additional taxation on to it.

“There is not a single home in the county of Conwy that I know that is not charging a top-up at the moment – and we’re the best paid county in North Wales.

“So you then take that concept across the whole of Wales and you’re going to see home closures.

“And if you look at the demographic of providers in terms of age group, they are all pushing towards the older age group.

“They are going to retire early, they will sell their stock, because people are not going to buy into the care sector because it’s such a difficult area to run at the moment.”

Steffan, a nurse by trade, warned the Chancellor’s Budget measures would have wide-ranging impacts on the social care sector – and ultimately the NHS which is already facing a bed-blocking crisis.

He said: “I support Care Forum Wales’s Save Social Care, Save the NHS campaign because delayed discharges are contributing to so many critical incidents reported to health boards.

“If the care sector falls, our health service falls.”

Mr Kreft added: “The former First Minister, Mark Drakeford, described social care as the ‘scaffold that holds up the NHS’ and losing care settings would be a disaster, not just for the vulnerable individuals for whom we care and our dedicated workforce, but also for hospitals across Wales.

“The changes, which amount to a tax on care, threaten to become a national emergency which is why our campaign, Save Social Care, Save the NHS.”