Posted on: Friday 19 May 2023
Today, Torfaen council have started speaking with residents and their families living in several residential and nursing homes in the borough in response to a letter from care providers demanding extra payments for care.
A joint letter from four residential care providers is serving clients with six weeks’ notice of their intention to charge them an extra £63 per week for care.
The letter states the providers are refusing to accept the standard care fees provided by the council and will charge individuals directly for the extra £63 they say they need to deliver care.
Torfaen’s Executive Member for Adults and Housing, Cllr David Daniels said: “We’ve been taken aback by the financial demands of these providers and the demands in the letter will no doubt cause real concern for many people.
“What makes the demand more surprising is that these are the best paid providers in Wales for these particular services. Over a five year period our residential and nursing care providers have received a 40 percent uplift in fees from the council and we’ve made a further offer of a 7.5% increase for 2023/24 which we believe is fair.
“This would appear as though care provide are holding either families or the council over a barrel to get the extra money they’re demanding.
“These businesses were also heavily supported by the Welsh Government through the pandemic and we really need to look nationally at how we alter the market, so this pursuit for profits over people comes to an end. We will continue working with these providers, however, in the future we could be forced to look elsewhere.
“I wish to reassure families we will not let our most vulnerable residents down and have started discussing with families potential next steps and arrangements to ensure the care they receive doesn’t change and are in the best interests of those residents’ wellbeing.”
“Torfaen’s Strategic Director responsible for Social Care, Jason O’Brien, said: “We are in the process of contacting everyone impacted by this decision. Torfaen council already pay the highest fees in Gwent and have offered care providers a good uplift on fees again this year. This demand would cost the council an extra £900,000 this year alone and that would inevitably result in cuts elsewhere.
“The letter states they require an extra £63 a week to cover care costs but the fees we pay are already higher than what providers of the same care services receive in neighbouring areas. We will go back to the table to understand how they are calculating the alleged shortfall and how their care and costs differ in Torfaen.
“I wish to reassure families that their loved ones will not see any changes in care while these discussions are ongoing."