Councils should compensate care providers for the increased cost pressures caused by the rise in the National Living Wage (NLW), says Four Seasons.
Four Seasons Health Care, the largest adult social care provider in the country, has called for local authorities to recognise the extra costs the NLW has landed providers with in their fees.
Robbie Barr, Four Seasons’ chairman, said 90% of councils had raised council tax by 2% in order to fund social care— the Social Care Precept—but had not passed this on in the fees they pay to providers.
‘Only around half of the 80 councils in England who commission our services have recognised the National Living Wage cost pressures and passed on appropriate fee rises,’ he said.
‘Following the Autumn Spending Review, we are pleased that the Social Care Precept remains in place and it will be essential that Local Authorities pass it on to operators to fund the National Living Wage increase from April of next year.’
For more on the social care funding crisis visit The MJ (£). See also our interview with the chief executive of the Local Government information Unit (LGiU), Jonathan Carr-West, 'How the Hell are we going to pay for social care?'
