By Ashley Young
The United Kingdom Home Care Association are name and shame authorities that fail to support social care providers during the COVID-19 crisis , The Eye Of Media.Com has heard.
UKHCA chief executive Dr Jane Townson (pictured)angrily issued the warning following allegations that councils in the Uk continue to ignore requests to release extra funding, despite the government making £1.6 billion available to strengthen care for vulnerable people. The British government periodically allocates a huge amount of money to various councils to empower them to carry out essential services, a valuable act of dutiful support also actively promoted by The Eye Of Media.Com
However, allegations of council bosses and managers using the funds selfishly and disproportionately emerges from time to time. This time the UKHCA are livid and are accusing councils of sitting on the cash. The professional association of home care providers from the independent, voluntary, not-for-profit and statutory sectors.
The UKHCA helps organisations that provide domiciliary care or homecare, including nursing services to people in their own homes, the promotion of high standards of care and providing representation with national and regional policy-makers and regulators. The professional body represents over two-thousand members across the United Kingdom, in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The organisation is particularly distraught at the lack of funding being spread out to care homes, researchers from HOME CARE INSIGHT who alerted The Eye Of Media.Com to the story said the problem was dire and raises serious concerns if true. They plan to look into the matter and share their findings with us if the complaints are legitimate and no change is forthcoming.
“Local Authorities have been given the money – it’s sitting in their bank accounts. But they don’t want to send it out to providers for reasons best known to themselves.” “Some of [the £1.6bn] has got to be used for homelessness, but the bulk of it should be for frontline social care services. How much of it has actually made its way to any social care providers yet? Virtually none, Jane Twonson told And that’s what we’re spending most of our time trying to sort out.”
UKHCA has been working closely with the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) in an attempt to address the problem
“At the beginning of March, we emailed them and said: ‘Would you be willing to do some joint guidance for local authorities on how to support providers during COVID-19?’ They agreed and some guidance was issued on the 13th of March. That went to all local authorities, which mostly ignored it,” Dr Townson said.
The guidance focussed on three key areas. First, a fee uplift to cover the increase in the National Living Wage. Secondly, to start paying providers on planned commission work, rather than in arrears as standard. Thirdly, to provide a temporary uplift to cover the additional costs that have arisen due to COVID-19. These would include: PPE, sick pay, as well as remote working and travel costs where relevant.
Trying to get Local Authorities to pay attention to their guidance has proven difficult for UKHCA.
Data collected by the organisation from 81 councils shows that around 60% had failed to increase their funding to even cover the rise of the National Living Wage that came into effect on April 1.
“We’ve been putting a lot of pressure on LGA and ADASS to try and get them to force their members to do what’s right. But they say they’re a member organisation: all they can do is give them strong guidance. They (LGA and ADASS) said they want the opportunity to work with their members first. They’ve said, ‘give us a list of the ones that aren’t behaving’. The Minister for Care is also very actively engaged with this issue,” said Dr Townson.
“So the plan is: raising concerns with ADASS and LGA about the councils that are doing nothing. If that doesn’t work, go to the Minister for Care in the Department of Health to personally phone them up. Then if that doesn’t work we go to the media to name and shame them.
“We have already given notice on everybody that the timescale for that process isn’t going to be a long time. It’s already the 9th of April. If the National Living Wage went up on the first of April, what possible excuse is there for them not addressing that?”
Image: twitter