Majority of councils don’t meet minimum cost of home care services

A BBC investigation into the price paid for home care found only four of 101 councils paid more than the minimum price estimated by the UKHCA.

The United Kingdom Home Care Association (UKHCA) published what it estimates is the minimum cost of delivering home care services in its report ‘A minimum price for homecare.’

The minimum cost of £15.19 per hour was calculated with full compliance to the National Minimum Wage for workers, including pay for the time spent travelling between each visit.

However the BBC found the average minimum actually being paid by councils was £12.26 an hour after 101 councils responded to their investigation.

Davina Ludlow, director of homecare.co.uk, the leading guide to home care providers, said: “Home care staff provide a lifeline to some of the most vulnerable people in our society, yet they are amongst the lowest paid.

“Pressure from commissioners to tighten budgets means care providers are only paid for ‘contact time’ and not a penny more. Travelling between care visits is unpaid – pushing their real-world pay below the National Minimum Wage. No wonder employers have to cope with a high turnover of staff."

UKHCA’s policy director, Colin Angel, said: “The price of an hour of homecare is a vital question for local and central government, statutory regulators, trades unions and the public. It is essential that a viable regulated homecare sector is available to support the care of older and disabled people who choose to remain at home."

The UKHCA said the minimum price of £15.19 should not be used as an alternative to accurate pricing and warned it should not be used to set the maximum price councils will pay for home care services.

The price has been calculated by considering the cost of a workforce, operating and managerial costs of the agency and the price of training and developing the skills of home carers.

Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb said: "Local authorities must consider how they can do things differently to deliver better outcomes and quality care for people who need it.

"We know there are plenty of good examples of commissioning by councils, but we want this to be the reality everywhere."

In 2013 The Equality and Human Rights Commission found over a third of local authorities set a maximum price for home care, with a fifth of local authorities paying £11.00 per hour or less.

It found the lowest price paid was £8.98 by local councils, £6.21 less than the minimum price set by the UKHCA.

‘A minimum price for home care’ estimated over 70 per cent of all hours of care from voluntary or independent providers are purchased by local councils which the report claimed has led to a monopsony of providers competing against each other to offer the lowest cost for local authority tenders.

Trevor Brocklebank, chief executive of Home Instead Senior Care said the low cost being paid for home care by councils is driving down the quality of care and forcing providers to cut costs in areas such as training to keep costs down.

He said: “It is impossible to deliver quality care for the hourly rates offered. You have to cut too many corners and cram in too many calls. And that’s unacceptable.

“If we moved more money into good quality care we would make significant savings in health care.”

The BBC investigation File on 4 will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 8pm on Tuesday 4 February.