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North Wales Live
07-08-2025
- General
- North Wales Live
Council's £2m care package for single child 'should be investigated'
Calls have been made for an inquiry into the 'eye-watering' £2m a year fee a North Wales council is paying for the care of a single child. At a meeting last month, Denbighshire Council's chief executive Graham Boase revealed the authority is paying £35K a week in care bills for just one child – and the figure was later revised to £37.5K a week. Consequently, the huge sum means the council is paying nearly £2m a year for the child, who has significant disabilities, complex behaviour needs, and requires 24-hour care. Mr Boase revealed the figure whilst attempting to explain the financial strain the authority was under, describing social care costs not seen by the public. But the revelation has now led to Care Forum Wales writing to the Auditor General for Wales, Adrian Crompton. The 'social care champions' want the Auditor General to investigate the £2m bill for the child. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox. Care Forum Wales says it is concerned the huge bill represents inequality within a social care system, claiming care providers looking after older, vulnerable people have to battle for funding from local councils. The organisation is concerned that whilst Denbighshire Council pays £37,500 a week for the care of one child, the authority pays just '£774 a week to fund residential care for an older person in the county'. Care Forum Wales chair Mario Kreft MBE said: 'There needs to be an inquiry into this, based on the inequality on how we fund older people's services. I think the Auditor General who's the head of Audit Wales needs to scrutinise this thoroughly with a proper inquiry so we can get to the bottom of this. And I think it's about the court of public opinion as well. I think the public needs to understand what's going on with this. 'Denbighshire are notoriously poor payers when it comes to funding adult social care. In fact, they are just about the lowest of the low. My question to the council would be have they done a cost of care review on this placement for this child, as they would for an older person, because none of us can get our heads around how it can possibly be £2m a year.' He added: 'That figure is totally extraordinary, so you're asking who signed it off and on what basis. How can that figure possibly be correct? It's an eye-watering sum of money. The bigger question is the inequality around this, the imbalance in the system. It's a council which wants to reduce fees all the time, always looking to penny-pinch.' Mr Kreft runs the Pendine Park Care Organisation, one of the biggest and most successful care home groups in the region. In the last financial year it posted gross profits of just over £11m. A spokesman for Denbighshire County Council commented: 'All packages of care for children or young people in Denbighshire are reviewed in line with the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014 and associated codes of practice and regulations, with all packages of support signed off by the head of children's services, who bases their decision on the assessment of need presented by the case holding social worker. 'Every six weeks all high-cost children's placements are reviewed by our review panel, chaired by the head of children's services, with relevant service and team managers and (the) finance officer. The council has received a Freedom of Information request from Care Forum Wales on this particular case and will be responding with more detail through that formal process.' The council spokesman said that the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014 placed a duty on local authorities to assess and meet the eligible needs of both children and their carers. He added: 'The child in question has very complex needs which means that a high level of expert care is required in order to safeguard the child's welfare. The authority cannot provide any further information as this will potentially identify the child concerned.' The spokesman went on to explain that every council has different annual funding settlements from Welsh Government, without addressing the fact that Denbighshire has enjoyed the highest percentage rise in North Wales in 2024 and 2025 alone. 'Each local authority has a different funding settlement and therefore must strike a very delicate balance of navigating challenging financial constraints and ensuring that we are maintaining a sustainable future for the care sector in Denbighshire. The cost of this care package has had no bearing on the setting of care fees for care providers in adult services,' he said. 'In determining our care fees each year, we undertake a consultation with care providers and for 2025 / 2026 Denbighshire invested in Care Cubed (a recognised care fee methodology) along with most of the other local authorities in North Wales to ensure a consistent approach across the region. Every care home provider in Denbighshire is encouraged to discuss their care fees with the local authority and using Care Cubed will work out the cost of care and agree fees. Denbighshire currently funds approximately 382 placements across 85 care homes. 'The total projected cost for older people's residential and nursing care during 2025/26 is £15.2m. With social care making up nearly a third of the average council tax bill in Denbighshire, it is vital that we take a fair and sustainable approach to funding care within Denbighshire.' Leader Cllr Jason McLellan added: 'Denbighshire County Council having to fund packages of care at this cost is very rare but reflects the very complex needs of this child, whom the authority is caring for.' Audit Wales was contacted for a comment.
Rhyl Journal
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Rhyl Journal
Ban on overseas care workers will close North Wales homes
That's the warning from sector champions Care Forum Wales (CFW) which says the plan to end the recruitment of care staff from overseas will have a devastating impact on care homes and domiciliary care companies - with catastrophic consequences for the NHS. The announcement by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper came at a time when the sector was already reeling from increases in National Insurance contributions and wage rises, which amount to a 37 per cent hike in costs. CFW raised the issue as a matter of urgency at a meeting a meeting of the Five Nations group, which represents social care providers in Wales, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Eire, where the condemnation was unanimous. Both organisations are writing to Prime Minister Kier Starmer and the Home Secretary urging them to reverse the overseas recruitment ban for social care. Mario Kreft MBE, the chair of CFW, said: 'It really is a half-baked, ill-thought through idea that's ignored commonsense for the sake of short-term political expediency. 'Calling these social care heroes low skilled is an affront. It's shocking because we're talking about some very special people who are highly skilled at caring. 'To treat them with such disdain as the Home Secretary has done is an absolute disgrace. We live in ageist society where older, vulnerable people are not valued. 'As a result, these social care workers are at the wrong end of the salary scale because of the model that local authorities and health boards apply to commissioning publicly funded social care services. 'It's particularly damaging here in Wales because most people who need social care – whether it's in a care home or in their own homes – are publicly funded. 'If you lose 10 per cent of your workforce it's going to cause major issue because you need so many people." Mario Kreft MBE (Image: Mike Dean (Eye Imagery)) The UK Government has said care workers from overseas have made a "huge contribution" to social care in the UK, but too many have been subject to "shameful levels of abuse and exploitation". A statement released by the government said: "Workers seeking to support the UK's care sector arrived to find themselves saddled with debt, treated unfairly, or in extreme cases discover the jobs they were promised did not exist. "In March, the Home Office revealed over 470 care providers had had their licence to sponsor international staff suspended since 2022. Under plans to be outlined on Monday (May 12), the government will go further and put an end to any more overseas recruitment. "The crackdown on rogue care providers has seen around 40,000 workers displaced, many of whom are ready to rejoin the workforce. They will be given the opportunity to do the jobs they were promised, while long-term plans are drawn up to train homegrown talent into the care sector. " It added: International workers who are already sponsored to work legally in the sector will be able to continue to extend their stay, change sponsors and apply to settle, including those who need to switch employers following a sponsor licence revocation. "This government is committed to tackling these issues and has committed to establishing fair pay agreements which will empower worker, employer and other sector representatives to negotiate improvements in the terms of employment. This builds on the announcement in January of the expansion of the Care Workforce Pathway which will support the adult social care sector to professionalise the workforce. "Together, these measures will move the UK away from a dependence on overseas workers to fulfil our care needs." However, Mr Kreft said it will "inevitably lead" to care homes closing and domiciliary care companies "going to the wall". 'If you have problems in terms of quality because you haven't enough staff, you'll get closed down anyway by the regulator." he said. 'At the very least, domiciliary care and care homes will have to reduce services which will cause a backlog into the NHS. 'It is so counterintuitive. At a time when you're hitting businesses with a 37 per cent increase in National Insurance to raise £20 billion for the NHS, the UK Government is harming the social care sector that keeps the NHS going. They are shooting themselves in the foot. It defies logic. 'All of the work we have done over the past 20 to 30 years to professionalise the sector, working in partnership with the Welsh Government and Social Care Wales, they have put a match to it overnight. 'If we were able to recruit sufficient staff locally we would. We certainly wouldn't go to the extra expense of recruiting international workers. It can cost £10,000 per person." Mr Kreft said the policy is "politically driven", describing it as "knee-jerk politics of the worst kind" in an effort to "confront a right-wing agenda".
North Wales Chronicle
23-05-2025
- Politics
- North Wales Chronicle
Ban on overseas care workers will close North Wales homes
That's the warning from sector champions Care Forum Wales (CFW) which says the plan to end the recruitment of care staff from overseas will have a devastating impact on care homes and domiciliary care companies - with catastrophic consequences for the NHS. The announcement by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper came at a time when the sector was already reeling from increases in National Insurance contributions and wage rises, which amount to a 37 per cent hike in costs. CFW raised the issue as a matter of urgency at a meeting a meeting of the Five Nations group, which represents social care providers in Wales, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Eire, where the condemnation was unanimous. Both organisations are writing to Prime Minister Kier Starmer and the Home Secretary urging them to reverse the overseas recruitment ban for social care. Mario Kreft MBE, the chair of CFW, said: 'It really is a half-baked, ill-thought through idea that's ignored commonsense for the sake of short-term political expediency. 'Calling these social care heroes low skilled is an affront. It's shocking because we're talking about some very special people who are highly skilled at caring. 'To treat them with such disdain as the Home Secretary has done is an absolute disgrace. We live in ageist society where older, vulnerable people are not valued. 'As a result, these social care workers are at the wrong end of the salary scale because of the model that local authorities and health boards apply to commissioning publicly funded social care services. 'It's particularly damaging here in Wales because most people who need social care – whether it's in a care home or in their own homes – are publicly funded. 'If you lose 10 per cent of your workforce it's going to cause major issue because you need so many people." Mario Kreft MBE (Image: Mike Dean (Eye Imagery)) The UK Government has said care workers from overseas have made a "huge contribution" to social care in the UK, but too many have been subject to "shameful levels of abuse and exploitation". A statement released by the government said: "Workers seeking to support the UK's care sector arrived to find themselves saddled with debt, treated unfairly, or in extreme cases discover the jobs they were promised did not exist. "In March, the Home Office revealed over 470 care providers had had their licence to sponsor international staff suspended since 2022. Under plans to be outlined on Monday (May 12), the government will go further and put an end to any more overseas recruitment. "The crackdown on rogue care providers has seen around 40,000 workers displaced, many of whom are ready to rejoin the workforce. They will be given the opportunity to do the jobs they were promised, while long-term plans are drawn up to train homegrown talent into the care sector. " It added: International workers who are already sponsored to work legally in the sector will be able to continue to extend their stay, change sponsors and apply to settle, including those who need to switch employers following a sponsor licence revocation. "This government is committed to tackling these issues and has committed to establishing fair pay agreements which will empower worker, employer and other sector representatives to negotiate improvements in the terms of employment. This builds on the announcement in January of the expansion of the Care Workforce Pathway which will support the adult social care sector to professionalise the workforce. "Together, these measures will move the UK away from a dependence on overseas workers to fulfil our care needs." However, Mr Kreft said it will "inevitably lead" to care homes closing and domiciliary care companies "going to the wall". 'If you have problems in terms of quality because you haven't enough staff, you'll get closed down anyway by the regulator." he said. 'At the very least, domiciliary care and care homes will have to reduce services which will cause a backlog into the NHS. 'It is so counterintuitive. At a time when you're hitting businesses with a 37 per cent increase in National Insurance to raise £20 billion for the NHS, the UK Government is harming the social care sector that keeps the NHS going. They are shooting themselves in the foot. It defies logic. 'All of the work we have done over the past 20 to 30 years to professionalise the sector, working in partnership with the Welsh Government and Social Care Wales, they have put a match to it overnight. 'If we were able to recruit sufficient staff locally we would. We certainly wouldn't go to the extra expense of recruiting international workers. It can cost £10,000 per person." Mr Kreft said the policy is "politically driven", describing it as "knee-jerk politics of the worst kind" in an effort to "confront a right-wing agenda".
Pembrokeshire Herald
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Pembrokeshire Herald
MP visits working group supporting Oriel y Parc gallery
CARE HOMES will close and lives will be put at risk in Wales as a result of the 'half-baked' immigration crackdown on social care workers. That's the warning from sector champions Care Forum Wales (CFW) who say the plan to end the recruitment of care staff from overseas will have a devastating impact on care homes and domiciliary care companies – with catastrophic consequences for the NHS. The announcement by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper came at a time when the sector was already reeling from increases in National Insurance contributions and wage rises, which amount to a 37 per cent hike in costs. CFW raised the issue as a matter of urgency at a meeting a meeting of the Five Nations group, which represents social care providers in Wales, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Eire, where the condemnation was unanimous. Both organisations are writing to Prime Minister Kier Starmer and the Home Secretary urging them to reverse the overseas recruitment ban for social care. Mario Kreft MBE, the chair of CFW, said: 'It really is a half-baked, ill-thought through idea that's ignored commonsense for the sake of short-term political expediency. 'Calling these social care heroes low skilled is an affront. It's shocking because we're talking about some very special people who are highly skilled at caring. 'To treat them with such disdain as the Home Secretary has done is an absolute disgrace. 'We live in ageist society where older, vulnerable people are not valued. 'As a result, these social care workers are at the wrong end of the salary scale because of the model that local authorities and health boards apply to commissioning publicly funded social care services. 'It's particularly damaging here in Wales because most people who need social care – whether it's in a care home or in their own homes – are publicly funded. 'If you lose 10 per cent of your workforce it's going to cause major issue because you need so many people. 'Most council jobs are 9 'til 5 but social care doesn't work like that – it's 24/7, 365 days a year. 'This will inevitably lead to care homes closing and domiciliary care companies going to the wall. 'If you have problems in terms of quality because you haven't enough staff, you'll get closed down anyway by the regulator. 'At the very least, domiciliary care and care homes will have to reduce services which will cause a backlog into the NHS. 'It is so counterintuitive. At a time when you're hitting businesses with a 37 per cent increase in National Insurance to raise £20 billion for the NHS, the UK Government is harming the social care sector that keeps the NHS going. They are shooting themselves in the foot. It defies logic. 'All of the work we have done over the past 20 to 30 years to professionalise the sector, working in partnership with the Welsh Government and Social Care Wales, they have put a match to it overnight. 'If we were able to recruit sufficient staff locally we would. We certainly wouldn't go to the extra expense of recruiting international workers. It can cost £10,000 per person. 'All of this is politically driven. It's certainly not driven by reality. This is knee-jerk politics of the worst kind in an effort to confront a right-wing agenda. 'Things are bad enough now but even more people won't be able to get into hospital when they need to and down the line it's something that could cost lives.' CFW treasurer Sanjiv Joshi was equally shocked and said: 'International recruitment of care workers has been a lifeline for our sector and the NHS as well. 'As we've realised since the pandemic, the NHS and the social care sector are totally intertwined and the backbone of both these very vital services are the care workers and we have a very small pool to recruit from in Wales. 'It is absolutely essential that we are able to supplement our domestic workforce with international recruitment. 'It's ironic that the country has just made huge financial sacrifices with higher taxation to try and improve the NHS and the social care offering and this is going to do the opposite. 'The Government's claim that not enough is being done to recruit workers from this country is just a false narrative. 'International recruitment has been going on in the social care sector and the NHS for the last 25 to 30 years . 'What happened was that the rules for non-EU recruitment were tightened because we had an EU workforce prior to Brexit. 'The rules were subsequently relaxed because as a result of Brexit and the pandemic we lost a large pool of our workforce. 'Throughout recruitment has always focused on the domestic workforce but our working population is decreasing relative to the growing demands of our ageing population. 'This is making a nonsense of the current rules. If we want to recruit somebody from overseas, we already have to demonstrate that we have tried our best and exhausted the domestic pool of local people and in-country overseas staff. 'We only recruit overseas staff when we have to. It's a lot more expensive to hire people from overseas so we only recruit internationally when there is no other option. 'The language in calling them unskilled is disgraceful and an insult to our existing workforce when we have been working so hard to professionalise the sector and to raise the esteem of our fantastic staff. 'This unwelcoming approach is going to make our current overseas staff feel incredibly uncomfortable. 'Without international recruitment, it's going to be impossible to plug the gaps today and going forward the situation is going to get worse. 'Recruiting international workers for the social care sector and the NHS are going to be essential if we are going to deliver these vital services. 'We always try and recruit locally first, then we look at the overseas pool of people who are already here and only then will we look to recruit from overseas.'
Pembrokeshire Herald
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Pembrokeshire Herald
Immigration ban ‘will put lives at risk and lead to care company closures in Wales'
CARE HOMES will close and lives will be put at risk in Wales as a result of the 'half-baked' immigration crackdown on social care workers. That's the warning from sector champions Care Forum Wales (CFW) who say the plan to end the recruitment of care staff from overseas will have a devastating impact on care homes and domiciliary care companies – with catastrophic consequences for the NHS. The announcement by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper came at a time when the sector was already reeling from increases in National Insurance contributions and wage rises, which amount to a 37 per cent hike in costs. CFW raised the issue as a matter of urgency at a meeting a meeting of the Five Nations group, which represents social care providers in Wales, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Eire, where the condemnation was unanimous. Both organisations are writing to Prime Minister Kier Starmer and the Home Secretary urging them to reverse the overseas recruitment ban for social care. Mario Kreft MBE, the chair of CFW, said: 'It really is a half-baked, ill-thought through idea that's ignored commonsense for the sake of short-term political expediency. 'Calling these social care heroes low skilled is an affront. It's shocking because we're talking about some very special people who are highly skilled at caring. 'To treat them with such disdain as the Home Secretary has done is an absolute disgrace. 'We live in ageist society where older, vulnerable people are not valued. 'As a result, these social care workers are at the wrong end of the salary scale because of the model that local authorities and health boards apply to commissioning publicly funded social care services. 'It's particularly damaging here in Wales because most people who need social care – whether it's in a care home or in their own homes – are publicly funded. 'If you lose 10 per cent of your workforce it's going to cause major issue because you need so many people. 'Most council jobs are 9 'til 5 but social care doesn't work like that – it's 24/7, 365 days a year. 'This will inevitably lead to care homes closing and domiciliary care companies going to the wall. 'If you have problems in terms of quality because you haven't enough staff, you'll get closed down anyway by the regulator. 'At the very least, domiciliary care and care homes will have to reduce services which will cause a backlog into the NHS. 'It is so counterintuitive. At a time when you're hitting businesses with a 37 per cent increase in National Insurance to raise £20 billion for the NHS, the UK Government is harming the social care sector that keeps the NHS going. They are shooting themselves in the foot. It defies logic. 'All of the work we have done over the past 20 to 30 years to professionalise the sector, working in partnership with the Welsh Government and Social Care Wales, they have put a match to it overnight. 'If we were able to recruit sufficient staff locally we would. We certainly wouldn't go to the extra expense of recruiting international workers. It can cost £10,000 per person. 'All of this is politically driven. It's certainly not driven by reality. This is knee-jerk politics of the worst kind in an effort to confront a right-wing agenda. 'Things are bad enough now but even more people won't be able to get into hospital when they need to and down the line it's something that could cost lives.' CFW treasurer Sanjiv Joshi was equally shocked and said: 'International recruitment of care workers has been a lifeline for our sector and the NHS as well. 'As we've realised since the pandemic, the NHS and the social care sector are totally intertwined and the backbone of both these very vital services are the care workers and we have a very small pool to recruit from in Wales. 'It is absolutely essential that we are able to supplement our domestic workforce with international recruitment. 'It's ironic that the country has just made huge financial sacrifices with higher taxation to try and improve the NHS and the social care offering and this is going to do the opposite. 'The Government's claim that not enough is being done to recruit workers from this country is just a false narrative. 'International recruitment has been going on in the social care sector and the NHS for the last 25 to 30 years . 'What happened was that the rules for non-EU recruitment were tightened because we had an EU workforce prior to Brexit. 'The rules were subsequently relaxed because as a result of Brexit and the pandemic we lost a large pool of our workforce. 'Throughout recruitment has always focused on the domestic workforce but our working population is decreasing relative to the growing demands of our ageing population. 'This is making a nonsense of the current rules. If we want to recruit somebody from overseas, we already have to demonstrate that we have tried our best and exhausted the domestic pool of local people and in-country overseas staff. 'We only recruit overseas staff when we have to. It's a lot more expensive to hire people from overseas so we only recruit internationally when there is no other option. 'The language in calling them unskilled is disgraceful and an insult to our existing workforce when we have been working so hard to professionalise the sector and to raise the esteem of our fantastic staff. 'This unwelcoming approach is going to make our current overseas staff feel incredibly uncomfortable. 'Without international recruitment, it's going to be impossible to plug the gaps today and going forward the situation is going to get worse. 'Recruiting international workers for the social care sector and the NHS are going to be essential if we are going to deliver these vital services. 'We always try and recruit locally first, then we look at the overseas pool of people who are already here and only then will we look to recruit from overseas.'
