How is the cost-of-living crisis impacting the day-to-day running of English care homes?
The cost-of-living crisis is having a significant impact on care homes. As well as the general inflation rate increases, care homes have some specific issues which exacerbate the situation. For example, enormous increases in utility costs, and insurance costs, and because of the near full employment within the UK economy, care homes have also had to increase salaries and wages way above the normal inflation rate in order to recruit and retain care teams.
Care England’s members reported inflation rates at around 10 per cent in December 2021 when Local Authorities were planning 2022/23 budgets. This has since risen and will continue to rise by up to 30 per cent according to a survey carried out by financial analysts Knight Frank and reported in the Financial Times. This was driven by the increased cost of living and doubling of inflation since December (the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast Consumer Price Index inflation to 8 per cent in Q2), the energy crisis, and the removal of the Infection Control and Testing Fund which supported employers to ensure full payment for the self-isolating team members or pay employees who were required not to work in line with government guidance.
Are you seeing any signs that the cost-of-living crisis is impacting residency rates in English homes?
Occupancy levels in care homes have not returned to pre-COVID levels and the recovery is slow; data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicates the number of care home residents has fallen by around 8 per cent since before the pandemic. Partly, this is due to the cost-of-living crisis, but there is also the issue of fewer people receiving local authority assessments, and the number of people who are now looking after their relatives because they were either furloughed or have much more flexible work-life patterns post the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government has pledged £500 million specifically for the social care workforce from the Health and Social Care Levy. Given the number of care teams quitting because of low pay even before the crisis, is this sum enough in your opinion?
The £500 million pledged by the government from the social care levy is totally inadequate and represents just over £100 a year over the course of three years for each member of a team in social care. This will not be enough to change terms and conditions and will do nothing to improve retention.
There cannot be sustainable economic development without sufficient funding for social care
If no emergency budget is forthcoming, what impact do you think the crisis might have on the quality-of-care provision?
If we do not see an emergency budget, there will be an impact on the care sector. Care providers are in a regulated sector and must focus on quality, so they will try not to compromise on quality because of constrained resources. However, the real impact will be felt in capacity because many care providers may have to reduce the number of active beds in order to make sure they have enough teams to deliver on the regulatory standard. If we see reduced capacity, the problems in the NHS will be exacerbated, and we will see longer waiting lists for elective surgery.
Continual underfunding is a direct juxtaposition to the Government’s commitment to “fix social care” and to its flagship Levelling Up agenda to narrow health inequalities. There cannot be sustainable economic development without sufficient funding for social care.
With ONS figures of 1 in 5 beds in English care homes unfilled, how likely is it that, when combined with soaring costs, we will see large numbers of homes having to shut their doors?
High levels of occupancy are vital in order to make care services viable. If we see significant reductions in occupancy, we will inevitably see services that will no longer be sustainable and some will sadly close, and this will be incredibly stressful and upsetting for residents and their families.