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22/9/14
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October 2014
incorporating
no.220 • £4.75
The Number One magazine for the care sector
Care group pens letter after battle
By Dominic Musgrave
CONCERNED social care providers have written to a local authority to warn them that despite the outcome of a legal challenge, their fears about delivering safe care to older and vulnerable adults in their area remain. A group of providers mounted a legal challenge against Herefordshire Council after it imposed an unacceptable maximum price which it then required local operators to bid below in order to secure business. The providers argued that the maximum price of £13.98 per hour would not enable them to deliver safe or quality home care to older and vulnerable adults who used home care services in the area. They also argued that the council had not consulted properly over its decision to lower the maximum rate from what it had previously paid. The High Court rejected the providers’ call for a judicial review of the council’s processes, but the providers have now written to Herefordshire Council warning that the problems remain. They are setting up a Providers’ Association and want to hold a
quarterly forum with the local authority to discuss the provision of care in the area. Spokesperson for some of the claimants and providers, Mike Padgham, said: “Whilst disappointed that the court did not uphold the providers’ request for a judicial review, those providers also remain very worried that funding levels compromise the care they are going to be able to offer and have written to the authority warning them of that.” The providers had contended that the council’s maximum price represented a figure of up to 18.4 per cent below current market rates. They argued that the authority had not properly taken into account providers’ legal obligation to pay careworkers the National Minimum Wage, cover travel, sickness and holiday pay, or to meet training and essential quality checks. They concluded that the council’s maximum price compromised their ability to provide a proper service and may have even risked service users’ safety. They warned that the only way providers could bid below the council’s maximum price was by cutting costs.
Group to sponsor Silver Line charity
Former Manchester City legend and England winger Mike Summerbee opened The Cedars care home in Holmes Chapel’s annual fair. Staff, residents, and members of the local community were all thrilled to meet Mike, now a club ambassador for Manchester City, with some bringing items of memorabilia for him to sign and others taking the opportunity to have a photograph taken with him. The day raised over £400 for the residents’ activities fund. Mike is pictured with with resident Vera Woodley.
THE third largest care home provider in the UK, has announced its support and sponsorship of The Silver Line charity, founded by Esther Rantzen CBE. The £150,000 sponsorship sees HC-One at the forefront of this initiative, being the charity’s only founding partner from the care sector to engage in this endeavour, leading the way by providing relevant and meaningful support at a national level. HC-One’s chairman Dr Chai Patel said: “HC-One is proud to sponsor The Silver Line and be the charity’s only founding partner from the care sector. The charity provides a great opportunity to give older people a voice, and create a bridge between older people and their surrounding world. HCOne’s sponsorship fits perfectly with our core values of accountability, involvement, and partnership, in ensuring that older people are provided with the kindest care.”