"It costs four times as much for us to recruit carers now."
The boss of a Northumberland home care company told ChronicleLive how the sector's staffing crisis was hitting hard - and how he had urged care minister Gillian Keegan to properly fund the sector when she visited the Mayfields Community Centre in Cramlington.
Guy Kirk - who runs Home Instead South East Northumberland - said recruitment was "incredibly tough", local authorities needed more money to fund care, and that the minister had been "well aware of the challenge" the sector faces.
