peter forster

MIDDLESBROUGH CASE STUDY

Some care home providers in the North East admit to charging residents paying their own care costs (self-funders) up to £5,564 a year more than those funded by the Council.

One lady whose mother is a self-funding resident of a Middlesbrough care home, where until recently everyone paid the same fees, received a letter in March last year announcing the second price increase in a four month period.

On checking with the Council she discovered this ‘top-up’ hadn’t been levied on Council funded residents.

“ I was furious to discover that in future my mother has to pay more for her care than the 80% of the home’s residents funded by the Council.”

When challenged, the care home owners claimed the current financial climate left them no choice but to charge self-funders more. However, a careful study of their accounts shows they made a healthy profit for the year prior to their new pricing policy!

Self-funding residents are not necessarily well off, as anybody needing residential care whose assets exceed £23,250 will be denied a Council contribution to their care costs. This includes just about anyone who owns their own home. But these individuals end up being penalised further when they’re charged more by the provider simply because they don’t qualify for Council help.

Middlesbrough Council are aware of this practice and their care-home guide advises, “The Council will not pay top-up fees. You have the right to choose any care home but we advise you and/or any relatives/representatives to contact us before agreeing to pay more for your care”

The Council's care guide emphasises that any agreement to pay more, either by a self-funded or Council funded resident is between the resident and the provider and therefore outside of Council control.

Council sources have stated they pay a fair market price for care, which they believe is sufficient to produce a reasonable profit for providers.

There is also a scheme whereby home owners can apply to be evaluated for a privileged 'Preferred Provider' label where, according to the Council's 2012-2013 care home guide*, successful applicants, “ …. have a contract with the Council covering all aspects of the evaluation, for example the contract bans preferred providers from charging ‘top-up’ charges”

In the Middlesbrough area there are approximately 26 homes providing elderly residential care, including 10 preferred providers.

A quick telephone poll of 15 homes showed 11 applying a top-up of the council negotiated rate to self-funders only. Five of these were Council ‘Preferred Providers’, including two who charged £5564 a year more! Two homes are charging a top-up to all residents. Only one home charged the council-negotiated price to all residents.

One home applied top-up fees on the basis of 'extras', such as a larger room which, as with any accommodation service, can probably be justified. In cases of genuine financial difficulty it would probably be acceptable for a provider to increase prices for all residents but the practice of discriminatory pricing on the basis of someone’s bank balance or property ownership is clearly wrong.

Nationally, about a third of all care home residents need to fund their own care. Surely it’s time that this appalling pricing practice is included in the ongoing funding debate.

* The wording was changed in the 2014-2015 Guide to, “........for example the contract bans preferred providers from charging ‘top-up’ charges to council funded residents” So whilst the guide is intended for everyone contemplating residential care, the Middlesbrough Council Preferred Provider Scheme allows such providers to charge self funders whatever they like.

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