Council facing judicial review over care home fees

Northumberland County Council is facing a judicial review

A council is facing a judicial review over the fees it pays to care homes.

Care North East (CNE) has objected to how Northumberland County Council sets the amounts paid to residential homes.

The group, made up of local care providers, represents about a third of the county's homes.

Wendy Pattison, the council's cabinet member for adult wellbeing, said a "significant portion" of money will help deal with "inflationary pressures".

On Tuesday, a cabinet meeting heard how the council was facing action following a "quite strong disagreement" over its approach to care home fees.

It comes after the government allocated £3.6m for the 2023-24 financial year to allow councils to improve adult social care.

Council director of adult social care Neil Bradley said proposals could have "superseded" the judicial review, but CNE had raised objections.

He said: "It is primarily around how the council has approached the extraordinary inflation that was applicable to the sector and what we had done about that in terms of setting fees for this year".

However, CNE's concerns included that it was not consulted about the plans until a late stage and that there were higher pay scales for home care workers when compared to care home staff, reported the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mr Bradley said he had "some sympathy" with the consultation issues, but said the timescales had come from the Department of Health and Social Care.

He added: “We have spoken to neighbouring authorities who do so [pay home care staff more than care home workers] and they have not reported any substantial issues.”

The council's leader, Glen Sanderson added that the situation was "complex" and that it had already made "some substantial changes in the amount of money we allocate, because we’re grateful and we respect everything they do".

“It is our job to balance the needs of our residents in the best way, but also be mindful of the fact that we need to make sure that every penny we spend is spent wisely."

Ms Pattison previously said it was proposing to use a "substantial amount of money" to improve home care, but that a "significant portion" would help support care homes.