A small family-run care home in Llangollen is being clobbered by a \u00a320,000 double whammy as a result of controversial Budget measures.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the additional annual cost the\u00a0 Old Vicarage Care Home will face because of the increase in employers\u2019 National Insurance payments and wage hikes announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.<\/p>\n
According to Bethan Mascarenhas, who owns and runs the 16-bed home with brother Richard, the extra costs \u201cadded more pressure\u201d to the social care sector which was already facing huge funding challenges.<\/p>\n
She challenged government leaders to visit a care home to see for themselves the impact the chronic lack of funding realistically had on people working on the frontline.<\/p>\n
Bethan is backing a campaign, launched by Care Forum Wales (CFW), calling for social care to receive an NHS-style exemption from National Insurance increases or emergency financial support to stop care homes and domiciliary care companies going bust.<\/p>\n
In launching their Save Social Care, Save the NHS campaign, care leaders say it\u2019s vital care homes are protected from closure, otherwise patients who are fit to leave hospital but need social care will have nowhere to go and will add to the NHS bed-blocking crisis.<\/p>\n
Backing the\u00a0campaign, Bethan said finding the extra funding needed to cover the increase in pay and National Insurance is an additional headache to everyone involved in the care sector.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cYou\u2019ve got to remember we\u2019re a small home, and from these Budget decisions, it\u2019s an extra \u00a320,000 we\u2019ve got to find all of a sudden.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re family-run, so we will look to absorb some of these costs by doing a lot of the work ourselves in terms of managing, in terms of covering care shifts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe additional \u00a320,000 we\u2019ve got to find might seem relatively small, but we\u2019re a small home and we will have to look at increasing our fees to cover that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat could mean the fees will go up by \u00a324 a week, which families or individuals will have to find.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe extra costs will have to be included in the fees, that\u2019s the only way you can do it, unless you are going to completely review and cut your costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are already constantly in this battle about whether we increase our fees or do we cut costs to make care more accessible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all work to such a high standard of care that it\u2019s almost pretty much impossible to cut costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur wages bill , which accounts for 70 per cent of our total income, is predicted to go up by 10.3 per cent whereas Denbighshire County Council is only increasing our fees by 3.9 per cent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are reaching the benchmark that the Care Inspectorate and the governing body want you to reach, then you\u2019re following the legislation, you\u2019re offering very individual person-centred care to a very high standard, you\u2019re keeping the environment up, providing really great activities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat also means your standards are very high and therefore that means your staffing needs to be very high \u2013 and your costs go up as a result.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t cut corners, so what do you do?\u00a0 Do you decide not to provide activities?<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, then you\u2019ve got people in your care home bored.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you cut corners in then saying \u2018well, the environment can suffer\u2019 and then the home doesn\u2019t look as nice as a result?
\n\u201cThis is the kind of tug-of-war that you have with yourself when you are looking at reviewing things, especially when it comes to financial decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese additional costs from the Budget will put extra pressure on the care sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the pressures just keep building and building.
\n\u201cSo many homes have already closed because of the pressures and this is just another pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel right to be putting more pressure on an already struggling industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are so vulnerable within the care sector because we don\u2019t have huge margins to work within.<\/p>\n
\u201cSocial care is run by people who genuinely want to make a difference and provide a really good service for people in later life or people who are not able to look after themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy message to the Government would be \u2018come in, work with us, see the boots on the ground and come and look at the struggles that we have, come and see it on the frontline\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur staffing costs tend to be about 70 per cent of our turnover.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need people, we completely run on people and if you don\u2019t have people, you don\u2019t have a business.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a 24\/7 service, you have people with very complex needs and your team are the backbone of the business.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey set the standard and the level of care so you need a good level of staffing and you need well-trained competent staff to be able to run a good service.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that is why staffing costs are so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Care Forum Wales bosses say the inevitable result of the closure of any care home as a result of the Budget measures 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
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, bosses at CFW have calculated the sector in Wales faces a \u00a3150 million funding hole to plug.<\/p>\n
CFW chair Mario Kreft MBE is leading the group\u2019s new campaign.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe former First Minister, Mark Drakeford, described social care as the \u2018scaffold that holds up the NHS\u2019 and losing care settings would be a disaster, not just for the vulnerable individuals for whom we care and our dedicated workforce, but also for hospitals across Wales.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe changes, which amount to a tax on care, threaten to become a national emergency which is why our campaign, Save Social Care, Save the NHS.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the Covid pandemic the Welsh Government provided better emergency financial support than any other part of the UK and we need to see a similar level of support to overcome this potential national emergency.<\/p>\n
\u201cLocal authorities and health boards need to be directed to play their part in ensuring this financial support reaches the frontline to ensure this tax on care does not cause a collapse of social care and create a hammer blow for the NHS.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bethan added: \u201cWith the Budget measures, it just feels like we\u2019ve been lumbered and after a very difficult time through Covid and all the other challenges the sector is vulnerable so we need help urgently.\u201d<\/p>\n