The boss of a care home which is evicting an 87-year-old woman who ran out of cash is enjoying a luxury lifestyle.
William Sawers – co-director of Northcare Care Homes – is seen in social media posts flaunting his family’s wealth while taking up to £5000 a month from cash-strapped pensioners for care home places. The care provider is chucking out Margaret Mackie, who has dementia, from the home in Edinburgh after her money ran out.
Millionaire Sawers, 34, lives in a £1.3million mansion in Thorntonhall village, near Glasgow, with his social media influencer wife and family. Ex-beauty pageant winner Ella Ravenscroft, 25, regularly posts snaps of the couple’s trips to Florida’s Disney World, weekends at the Dorchester Hotel in London and Gleneagles as well as their wedding last year on Italy’s Amalfi coast.
They have cars, including a Mercedes jeep, which can cost up to £200,000, and a Bentley, and wear designer labels including Chanel and Gucci. Latest company accounts show it had an income of £14million in 2021 and a £24million turnover across their eight care homes.
Ex-Labour MSP and campaigner Neil Findlay said people who had worked hard all their lives were among those now lining the pockets of rich care home bosses.
He said: “It’s obscene and disgusting that someone like Margaret has her entire life savings wiped out, her home sold and family’s funds run dry in order to fund a life of luxury for these care home owners. The system feeds greed.”
We revealed how Margaret, 87, is being evicted from her home at Northcare Suites in Edinburgh after staying there for three-and-a-half years at a cost of £1600 a week. The mum went viral with her versions of Frank Sinatra’s My Way and Bing Crosby’s White Christmas. The Linlithgow pensioner recorded the singles with her former carer, Jamie Morley, at her care home and beat the likes of Ed Sheeran in the charts.
The duo raised more than £2000 for the Alzheimer’s Society and Dementia UK in 2019 and 2020 and appeared on TV and in papers worldwide. Daughter Mairi told how she had been left with no option but to try to find a new home for her after spending £120,000 of her own money and all of her mum’s life savings – £80,000 – to cover the cost of her accommodation and care.
The council had offered to pay up to £832 a week for Margaret to stay but Sawers turned it down and Mairi said she feared moving her mum could have a devastating effect on her health. Sawers runs Northcare (Scotland) Ltd with mum Margaret and sister Katie and has other firms including the Kirkton Equestrian Centre at Gleneagles in Perthshire and real estate firm MSPG Limited.
Findlay said: “The even greater scandal is no one seems to care and there is zero action from anyone at a government level to end this exploitation of older citizens.”
Cathie Russell, of Care Home Relatives Scotland, said she had written to Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport Maree Todd about the issue of residents facing eviction.
She said: “In care homes, the practice traditionally has been that owners accept if people have self-funded a few years and their money runs out the resident stays on at the council rate. The issue of evictions is an extremely worrying development and I’d urge any families seeking care for a loved one to avoid care homes that won’t provide reassurance on what happens when the proceeds of the family home has gone.
“Otherwise relatives are left literally praying their mum or dad will pass before the money runs out, which is a scandalous situation to be in. We have written to the minister Maree Todd and have raised this issue with her.
“We would also like to know what Scottish Care – which represents providers – thinks of this. If they believe it’s OK, then they ought to change their name.”
Sawers said: “When Margaret’s family selected a care home for her to reside in, they were fully aware of the weekly fee associated with receiving an extremely high level of service. This service could not be offered for the amount of money Margaret’s family now wish to pay.
“Northcare directors do not flaunt any of their personal matters on any of their social media platforms. My wife has been in the fashion industry for over a decade and has her own career stemming from multiple social media platforms, which is completely separate from Northcare.”
The firm owns eight care homes across central Scotland including three in Glasgow, one in Edinburgh and two in East Kilbride.
The Scottish Government said: “Maree Todd, Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport, is meeting Care Home Relatives Scotland on June 14 and will discuss these concerns. The Scottish Government has clear expectations for quality of care across our health and social care services, including protecting the rights and dignity of care home residents. The safety, protection and wellbeing of people who live in care homes is a priority.”
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