National Insurance increases will see a Gwynedd care company face a massive \u00a3500,000 bill as result of the \u201cruinous Budget\u201d,\u00a0bosses have revealed.<\/p>\n
And\u00a0wage\u00a0rises imposed by the Chancellor will simply end up being a \u201cstealth tax on the council tax\u201d, according to the Meddyg Care Group which has three nursing homes in Porthmadog and\u00a0Cricieth\u00a0as well as a domiciliary care\u00a0 service, Help At Home.<\/p>\n
Social Care Champions Care Forum Wales are so worried about the impact they have launched a new campaign, called Save Social Care, Save the NHS.<\/p>\n
CFW is calling\u00a0for social care to receive an NHS-style exemption from the National Insurance increases or emergency financial support to stop care homes and domiciliary care companies going bust.<\/p>\n
Between its three homes\u00a0Meddyg\u00a0Care Group has 112 beds in total, employs over 200 staff \u00a0and provides around 4,000 hours a month of domiciliary care.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s Managing Director\u00a0Kevin Edwards\u00a0said: \u201cWe\u2019ve had a look at the National Insurance numbers, and the increased cost is going to be in the region of \u00a3200,000 to the business.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that figure\u00a0is just the National Insurance, not the wage increase, that will be another cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of our staff are not paid the National Minimum Wage, they are on the Real Living Wage, so the cost is\u00a0 higher.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the minimum wage\u00a0rate\u00a0 increase and the National Insurance hike thev cost to the business\u00a0is\u00a0 around \u00a32,500 per person per annum, but all of our staff are paid in excess of that figure.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo\u00a0we are\u00a0 looking at in the region of\u00a0a 10 per cent rise in wage costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of our services are quite specialist,\u00a0 we provide essential services, so we have no option other than to pass the costs on to the Local Authorities and Health Boards who place individuals in our care\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat people don\u2019t realise is that this is a stealth tax on the council tax, because the local authority will pay our rates, they simply don\u2019t have a choice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fundamental problem is they want gold standard care, and they want us to maintain a high standard\u00a0as part of the pre-placement agreement, but you can\u2019t do it on peanuts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr\u00a0Edwards said it was essential local authorities paid the\u00a0necessary\u00a0fees to ensure care homes ran effectively and safely.<\/p>\n
He said:\u00a0\u201cIf we don\u2019t get this level of support and\u00a0funding, we don\u2019t have the right staffing levels, we don\u2019t have the right\u00a0specialist\u00a0environment, and subsequently if we get poor ratings\u00a0from the inspectorate, the banks won\u2019t support the business\u00a0\u2013 it’s a very vicious circle.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a 1.2 per cent rise in Employer National Insurance contributions and a cut to the Secondary Threshold to \u00a35,000 alongside the five per cent increase in the Real Living Wage to \u00a312.60, Care Forum Wales\u00a0has calculated the sector in Wales faces a \u00a3150 million funding hole to plug.<\/p>\n
According to CFW chair Mario Kreft MBE, the only way to avert the funding crisis was for the social care sector to be granted an NHS-style exemption from the increases in employers\u2019 National Insurance contributions as well as support to meet the other additional costs.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt represents a 37% increase in employer NIC for a member of staff earning \u00a325,000 a year which equates to the Real Living wage<\/p>\n
\u201cIf social care can\u2019t be exempted, then the huge extra financial costs imposed as a result of the Budget must be paid for one way or another because this is a tax on publicly funded care, a tax on working people that\u2019s going to hit families.\u201d<\/p>\n
CFW has warned the \u201ccatastrophic unintended consequences\u201d of the Budget will be a disaster for hospitals in Wales.<\/p>\n
The group said the Budget measures have put some care homes at risk of closure.<\/p>\n
The inevitable result of that would be vulnerable people left high and dry, piling even more pressure on beleaguered hospitals already struggling to cope and create even longer waiting lists.<\/p>\n
Mr Kreft has outlined the organisation\u2019s stark warning in a letter to Welsh MPs, Senedd members along with First Minister Eluned Morgan and Health Minister Jeremy Miles.<\/p>\n
A similar letter has gone to Prime Minister Kier Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves.<\/p>\n
The campaign is being supported by the Five Nations Group which represents care organisations from across the UK and Eire.<\/p>\n
They all agree that third sector providers, including charities and hospices, will also be put at risk by the \u201cruinous measures\u201d contained in the Budget.<\/p>\n
Mr\u00a0Edwards added his support to the new campaign from Care Forum Wales and said: \u201cI would absolutely back that, social care needs that exemption.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur local councils don\u2019t need the extra pressure on them. They are already at breaking point and council tax rises are going through the roof.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpecialist care, dementia in some cases, is just becoming more unaffordable, putting more pressure on families, because it is becoming too expensive.<\/p>\n
He said the additional \u00a322 billion funding for the NHS announced in the\u00a0Government\u2019s\u00a0Budget did\u00a0not\u00a0take into account that the social care sector played a key part in the health service.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIt typifies their misunderstanding of how the system works.\u00a0It is also a lack of appreciation about running a business, being an employer of a lot of people.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s already so many care homes shutting down\u00a0over the last couple of years, why put them under increased scrutiny?<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t understand the logic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nicola Rutherford, Co-Director at\u00a0Meddyg\u00a0Care Group,\u00a0said the measures included in the Budget might discourage staff from working so many hours in care homes.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI think the mistake the Government is making is they are putting good money after bad at the NHS without clear direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gets swallowed up in layers of\u00a0bureaucracy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey should be looking to keep people in their homes for longer or in a safe setting care home and keeping them out of the hospitals, and keeping the hospitals free\u00a0so those in need of appropriate treatment receive it, which was what the NHS was created for in the first place.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t fix the NHS until you fix the social care sector, we all see the bed-blocking, we see the issues which are so inter-connected.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are all part of the same machine supporting the health of the nation. You have got to treat us all fairly and allow us to do the job that we are there to do.\u00a0It is scary times for the care sector.\u201d<\/p>\n