CARERS and the people they support will suffer a “kick in the teeth” should council proposals not to increase their funding go ahead.

Under the current system, Worcestershire County Council pays a certain amount of money to care providers for each person they care for.

Plans by the council say they “propose to increase rates by 0%” meaning care companies will not receive a higher amount of money, despite the cost of care increasing.

Crossroads Worcestershire, a care charity, has attacked the plans, accusing the council of “forcing down standards”.

In a letter, sent both to the council and to the county’s MPs, chief officer Roger Garland said: “The true cost of providing a good quality domiciliary care service within Worcestershire already exceeds the amounts the County Council is paying, amounts that were agreed well before we even knew of the global pandemic and the dramatic impact that it would have on service delivery.

“Yes, it is possible for unscrupulous care providers to cover their costs by skimping on call times, poor quality training, failing to pay staff for travel time and for mileage between calls – a legal requirement.

“All these (and more) have been identified within Worcestershire, with some care providers arguably forced to take such action in order to maintain financial viability.

“I find it hard to believe that any County Council member or officer worth their salt would accept this poor level of provision, but can see that decisions about domiciliary care services within our county are based upon finance rather than quality.”

The proposals were confirmed in a letter sent to social care providers across the county.

In that letter, it says: “In undertaking the review this year, the Council has again endeavoured to fully understand and consider the acknowledged and ongoing pressures upon domiciliary care provision, including the implications of National Living Wage and other statutory cost pressures upon the care market.

“You will be aware from frequent information in the media that budgetary pressures on the Health and Care system nationally continue.

“The Council’s income is growing year on year due to an increase in the number of homes and an increase in business rates from a growing economy.”

The letter also argues the pace of income growth is not keeping up with the increase in demand in social care due to:

• Population growth and demographics,

• Clients living longer with increasingly complex care needs

• Transitions from Children’s Services.

All this, according to the council, means there is “...a need for a national, long term solution to meet the increasing pressures in demand for social care.”

Worcester MP Robin Walker confirmed he had raised the issue with both the county council and the Department of Health and Social Care, adding he was waiting for a response to see what would happen.

He said: “I do know the county council has had extra funding, but the challenge is balancing the domiciliary care with residential care, especially with the needs of the covid pandemic.”

The letter continues: “In reality our charity, Crossroads Caring for Carers, needs something in the order of 3% to cover inflationary increases related to the delivery of our service.

“A 0% increase, when taking inflation into account, equates to a reduction of some 3% in real terms, yet the council still expect providers to maintain a quality of service delivery that at least matches the terms of the contract. I have written to them asking how they think this is possible.

"The existing situation with regard to Covid-19 has obviously brought additional stress, expense, illness and loss of life.

"The role of Social Care workers during the pandemic has been praised by Government Ministers, MP’s, Dept of Health and Social Care, CQC, the general public and even by County Council members and officers."

The Worcester News contacted Worcestershire County Council for a response to the Crossroads claims, but they were unable to provide a comment before our print deadline.