Domiciliary Home Care Support

Baroness Wheeler Excerpts

Wednesday 25th April 2018 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Wheeler]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure the provision of domiciliary home care support, in the light of the decision by Allied Healthcare to file for a company voluntary arrangement.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Lord O'Shaughnessy) (Con)]

My Lords, the law is clear that, if services may be disrupted due to business failure, the Care Quality Commission will notify local authorities so that they can put appropriate contingency plans in place. In respect of Allied Healthcare, no such notification has been made to date. The public should be reassured that the Care Quality Commission has been monitoring closely the situation at Allied Healthcare and will continue to do so.

[Baroness Wheeler (Lab)]

My Lords, Allied Healthcare is the latest hedge-fund-owned care provider to have to take drastic action to keep up the huge burden of paying off loans to its creditors. The precarious finances of many domiciliary care companies has already led to large-scale provider closures and to companies handing back contracts in almost half of councils, and we know that residential care is in a similar position. The CVA means that Allied Healthcare has four weeks to come to an arrangement with its creditors. Its closure would have serious consequences for continuity of care and the safety of its 13,500 clients, including many vulnerable older people and people with learning difficulties, and for its 8,700 staff. With local authorities unable to pay fees that cover the actual cost of care or meet the implementation costs of the national minimum wage, let alone address the potential £400 million of deserved back-pay costs for staff sleep-in payments, what reassurances can the Minister give that councils will be able to discharge their statutory duty to deliver care if Allied Healthcare collapses? Does he really think that this is the way to fund the care that people in need of support in their homes deserve?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I thank the noble Baroness for the opportunity to provide that reassurance for people using and benefiting from the care provided by Allied Healthcare. I want to reassure them that the Care Act 2014, passed by the coalition Government, gives local authorities responsibility for continuity of care if a business were to fail. Of course, we are not in that position with Allied Healthcare, because it still has to go through the CVA process. I can reassure people that the LGA has said that councils have “robust”—its word—plans in place to ensure continuity of care if that is required. I put that on record for those who may be worried about it.

We know that extra funding is needed in the sector. Over three years, through a number of means including extra money through the precept and direct funding to local authorities, the Government have increased by about £9 billion the funding available for social care, which we know is required. I also point out that, if you look at domiciliary care provider numbers, you will see that there are 50% more than there were eight years ago. We know that markets have entrants and that providers are exiting, but we have more providers in the market and more packages being delivered than ever before. Ultimately, the backstop is that local authorities have that responsibility to provide continuity of care.