Britain’s only specialist respite holiday provider for severely disabled people and their carers is to close because of financial difficulties, in what has been called a bellwether example of the UK’s growing social care crisis.
Revitalise, a charity that runs unique state-of-the-art respite stays, offering 24-hour care at two specially adapted hotels, said local authority cuts, combined with increased running costs and a fall in donations, meant it was no longer viable.
The 60-year-old charity, which has a number of high-profile supporters, including Samantha Cameron, Dame Esther Rantzen, and Dame Judi Dench, said the financial challenges it faced were “insurmountable”.
In a message to guests and donors, seen by the Guardian, the charity said it hoped its closure would highlight the “critical state of affairs” in social care and the diminishing availability of funding for respite care.
Revitalise’s respite services were prized by guests and their carers who found it impossible to take holidays in conventional hotels because of the absence of specialist care support and adaptations for people with complex disabilities.
Rantzen, a vice-president of the charity, said she was shocked by the closure: “Revitalise did wonderful work. Respite care is sometimes seen as a luxury but it can be the only way carers can carry on, both mentally and physically.”
Charities provide the bulk of specialist care services for people with complex disability, learning disability and autism, but most have been hit hard by inflation, chronic staffing shortages, and falling income from local authority contracts.
One social care leader said the collapse of Revitalise was a “bellwether” moment for a sector in crisis: “The government is fixated on the NHS, and local government can no longer support nice-to-have care services like respite.”
Another senior figure said: “A lot of care providers are in a really difficult place. They are selling off buildings, using reserves to pay staff salaries, and handing back contracts to councils because they can’t make the sums add up.”
Sources said Revitalise was not insolvent, but “diabolical” financial projections for the next few months meant it would not be able to balance its books, and trustees had concluded its long-term survival was impossible.
In common with most care providers, Revitalise has suffered from shortages of care staff, leading to unsustainable bills for agency workers. The fee for a weekly stay with 24-hour care at its hotels had soared to as much as £3,000, putting it out of reach of many guests, while local authorities were increasingly unable to contribute to the cost.
About 4,000 people a year used the charity’s two hotels, in Southport, Merseyside and in Chigwell, Essex. Revitalise said hotel bookings would be honoured up to 25 November. About 190 jobs at the hotels and its 18 charity shops are at risk.
Michelle Thomas, a Revitalise customer, told the Guardian it was the only place where her severely disabled 88-year-old mother could take a break without having to worry: “She loved her holidays there and now it’s going. I’m at a loss.”
An email to Revitalise guests from its chief executive, Jan Tregelles, seen by the Guardian, said: “It is with great sadness that Revitalise must announce that the difficult decision has been made to close the charity. Despite every effort to ensure our survival, the financial challenges we face have become insurmountable.”
It added: “We will dearly miss seeing you in our centres and we are deeply sorry that as the UK’s last remaining provider of holidays with 24-hour care for people with complex disabilities, we cannot continue in operation.
“It remains our lasting hope that policymakers take heed of the critical state of affairs in the social care sector and ensure that respite is properly funded.”
