Latest news with #ProvidersUnite
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
South West care homes join Westminster funds demo
Owners, managers and staff from care providers across the south-west of England have joined a national protest in London against tax rises and a funding shortfall affecting the sector. Providers Unite (PU), which organised the Westminster march, said living wage and national insurance rises had not been matched by increased government funding. This was putting pressure on care providers, members said. A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson said the government "inherited significant challenges facing social care" and had taken action, including a £3.7bn "funding boost" and a £2,300 increase to the Carers' Allowance. The DHSC also said it had also introduced plans to make physical adjustments to 15,000 disabled people's homes to allow them to live independently and was introducing an "independent commission" to help futureproof the sector. PU, a grassroots organisation, which was founded last year after tax rises were announced, said: "Social care is the backbone of our communities, yet it's still critically underfunded." Devon care home chain owner Geoffrey Cox said a higher living wage was "a good thing" but had to be "funded by the government". "We are looking at an Everest of potential losses. I can't make the sums work," he said. He added he was "nervous" about the current state of social care and "there are a lot of worried people". Katrina Hall, from PU, said the march was "all about providers uniting" with one voice as care providers risked going out of business. She said: "We show up for the people we care about, we show up because we love what we do, and we're showing up today because we want to make a stand. "We need the sector to be valued." Naeem Ahmad, managing director of a care home in Portscatho, made the journey from Cornwall He said it was to make sure concerns of residents and staff were "seen and heard". He said: "Every person in parliament is a human being and I think if they can see what's going on - if they can and hear people's experiences - then funding will flow." Caroline Voaden, Liberal Democrat MP for South Devon, said she had spoken to local care providers who were struggling with "rising costs, rising fees and not enough money coming from local authorities". "If we don't address the crisis facing social care, then we're never going to address the crisis facing the NHS, because so many people are in hospital who don't need to be," she said. Voaden said the national insurance and living wage rises in last year's budget were "absolutely hammering" the sector. The DHSC said it recognised and valued "the huge contribution that adult social care providers deliver day in, day out, in communities all across the country". It said the government has "been honest about the scale" of challenges facing the sector and was "committed to tackling" them. Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@ First cross-party talks on social care reform postponed Social care sector 'will struggle' to cover costs Expansion of inspection of health and social care Department of Health and Social Care Providers Unite
BBC News
25-02-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Care sector close to collapse, says protesting CEO
The social care market is "close to collapse", a care home boss calling for more support from the government has Butcher, CEO of Blackadder Care Homes, which runs seven care homes across the Midlands, took part in a march in Westminster on Tuesday. He was one of hundreds to attend the day of action aimed to get more financial support for social care providers from the government. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the new Labour government inherited "significant challenges" facing the sector. Tuesday's Providers Unite event called for more support from the government to help care homes deal with the rise in both the living wage and contribution rate for employers' National Insurance, which were announced by the government in their budget in October 2024. Mr Butcher said: "We're fighting incredible cost pressures because of the decisions by the government. "None of it is funded. "It's immensely difficult." Think tank Nuffield Trust has calculated that the budget measures will cost independent care providers in England an extra £2.8bn in 2025-26 - £940m in additional National Insurance and £1.85bn in extra wage this extra bill, the think tank predicts that care homes will have to foot about £2bn themselves. Mr Butcher, who runs care homes in Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Leicestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, said the issues "aren't new". "We're meeting in London to protest because we've tried talking, we've tried lobbying, we've tried complaining for nearly 20 years and no one's listened," he said. "It's at a point now where the market is very, very close to collapse."They can't keep kicking this can down the road." A DHSC spokesperson said the department has taken "immediate action" to help the social care sector."This includes a £3.7 billion funding boost, 15,000 new installations to help disabled people live safely and independently in their own homes, and a £2,300 increase to Carers Allowance," they said. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Sky News
25-02-2025
- Health
- Sky News
Care providers warn system is 'at breaking point'
Care providers have warned the government that the UK social care system is "at breaking point" as it struggles with rising demand and high costs. It comes as thousands of care and support providers, and some of those who rely on the service, plan to stage a demonstration in central London to urge the government to give more support to the ailing sector. The planned rise in National Insurance contributions for employers combined with the increase in the national minimum wage, set to come into effect in April, could lead to some providers going out of business, according to Providers Unite, a coalition of social care organisations campaigning for long-awaited social care reform. Research by the independent think tank The Nuffield Trust estimates that the rises, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves last October, could cost the sector an extra £2.8bn a year. The government has already announced an additional £600m to help support the social care sector. But the chair of the National Care Association, Nadra Ahmed, said the proposed increases will cancel out that government support. "It is inconceivable that politicians fail to understand that a lack of investment will impact heavily on both the NHS and local government," she said. "It is this lack of recognition or investment which has led to a watershed moment at a time when the need for our services continues to grow. The sector is at breaking point." Ms Ahmed said increased costs had not kept pace with funding levels and warned some care providers could end up bankrupt. Jane Jones, owner of Applewood Support, a homecare provider in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, said her costs will rise by and estimated £6,000 a month when the National Insurance rise comes into force. "I felt sick when I heard the chancellor announce the rise in NI," she told Sky News. "It's not feasible. I've had to make cuts in the office. We've got rid of two personnel because we just can't afford it. It's an attack on growth." The care sector employs nearly two million workers and supports more than 1.2 million people. Pensioners Shiela and Paul Banbury have been married for 59 years and rely on Applewood to care for 82-year-old Sheila at home after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2018. Paul, 77, says if they could not get home care Shelia would have to move into a care home. "It would be very difficult after such a long time together. We want to be able to stay together in our home." Most care providers receive a fixed price for care, set by local councils. That means that rises elsewhere in the system are difficult to manage. "We cannot increase our costs like the supermarkets can and are limited to what the government and councils can pay us," says Ms Jones. "So if they can't pay us the right amount of money, we're just going to go close our doors. And I think that's what's going to happen come April." Mike Padgham, chair of The Independent Care Group, urged the chancellor to review her budget measures and make care providers exempt from the National Insurance rise in the same way that the NHS is. "We have suffered for more than 30 years and enough is enough. People who rely on social care and those who deliver it deserve better," said Mr Padgham. The government has published plans to reform the social care system, aiming to establish a National Care Service designed to bring it closer to the NHS. Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, announced the formation of an independent commission, chaired by Baroness Louise Casey, to develop comprehensive proposals for organising and funding social care.
