Care home fees are rising by ten per cent in Tameside as the borough faces ‘significant challenges’ in recruiting enough carers.
Bosses have announced that care fees will rise in order to meet rising costs, including going forward with a commitment by the council to pay the real living wage to carers working in the borough.
It means a standard weekly fee for someone living in a care home increases from £580 to £638, and the costs for someone with dementia would rise from £633 to £696.
Standard weekly nursing fees would increase from £836 to £920, while nursing fees for residents with dementia would go up by £90 a week.
Director of adult social services, Stephanie Butterworth said: “Work has been progressing in relation to the impact on a number of cost pressures imposed on care providers that significantly are challenging the financial viability and the sufficiency of high quality provision.
“The key cost pressures faced by providers are in the main relating to the ability to recruit and retain staff by offering at least a real living wage, and in addition there are significant increases in non-pay costs such as insurance and the running costs of the properties including food and utility costs.
“Furthermore the complexity of care needs is changing and we are seeing the need to have increasing numbers of staff to support individuals.
“Increasing numbers do need care and help and support. The rise in the demand for care has not been matched by an increased ability to attract sufficient numbers of staff to keep pace.
“Providers have seen a significant number of workers leaving the profession for a number of reasons, one of which is related to rates of pay,”
Ms Butterworth added: “The fees proposed in this report will transition all of the adult social care workforce to this aspiration.
“In terms of the fair cost of care we are doing work with providers at the moment. We are working with our providers to make genuine progress towards more sustainable fee rates as we move forward over the next year.”
She told councillors that the budgets for adult social care placements and packages of care for the 2023/24 financial year was almost £80m gross – £51m net after service user contributions.
Council leader Ged Cooney said it was clear carers should not be paid less than the real living wage. “Let’s hope some of these employers themselves, if they can, top that up even more,” he adds.
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