West Sussex County Council paying millions for empty care beds

West Sussex County Council funds 590 care home places with Shaw Healthcare

A county council has been paying out millions of pounds for unused care home beds, a report has said.

West Sussex County Council is 17 years into a 30-year contract with Shaw Healthcare, which costs £23.6m per year for 590 beds in 12 care homes.

The report to a council committee said that during some months in 2021/2022 fewer than 80% of the beds were being used, leaving more than 100 unoccupied.

The council said work was "ongoing" with Shaw to renegotiate the contract.

Liberal Democrat opposition councillor, Dr James Walsh, said: "This is frankly a devastatingly shocking state of affairs that we are paying almost £5m a year - wasted money - for beds that we've paid for [in] a block contract and we're not putting clients into.

"I know it's easy with hindsight, but we should never have got ourselves into a contract that tied us down like that over such a long period when the care market and the requirements were likely to change, have changed and have got us into this situation."

He has asked for an "extremely robust" renegotiation with Shaw "to make sure that we're not paying taxpayers money to the tune of £4.5-£5m a year for 100 beds or so that are unoccupied and we're unable to use".

The contract with Shaw was signed in February 2005 and ends in 2035, with the £23.6m payable each year, no matter how many of the beds are unused, the Local Democracy Reporting Service has reported.

Alan Sinclair, director of adults and health at the county council, said negotiations with Shaw were "ongoing".

He added: "This isn't a straightforward negotiation and it will take us a bit of time to get to where we need to."

He said the work will include ensuring the right type of beds are provided in the right parts of the county to meet the needs of the population.

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