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Councils spend £500m on beds in worst care homes
The Guardian|March 24, 2023
Taxpayers have spent close to half a billion pounds buying beds in the worst care homes in England in the past four years, driving profits for private investors while residents suffer unsafe treatment, a Guardian investigation has revealed.
- Robert Booth & Michael Goodier
Councils spend £500m on beds in worst care homes

In what one family branded "a robbery of taxpayers' money" and Labour said was "scandalous", about £480m is estimated to have been spent on "inadequate" care homes - many rated unsafe and in special measures, meaning they are threatened with closure.

They are often staffed by untrained agency workers ignoring residents' needs and failing to deliver proper nutrition and medicines in dirty and dangerous properties.

Billions more in public cash has been spent on homes rated "requires improvement", many operated by chains delivering large returns for overseas shareholders and creditors.

In all, councils have spent an estimated £7.5bn to put people in poor-quality care homes since 2019, a Guardian analysis of tens of thousands of public contracts and inspection records reveals.

The findings expose "a broken care system", said Sarah McClinton, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, whose members commission council-funded care.

The Relatives & Residents Association (RRA) said state payments to the worst homes were "propping up substandard care" and "failing the taxpayer".

In 2022, one pound in every five spent by English local authorities buying residential elderly care is estimated to have been paid for a home in the poorest categories.

In the east Midlands that rose to almost a third of all public money spent last year - more than £200m. The findings will pile pressure on the government to deliver wholesale reform to "fix social care" as promised when Boris Johnson became prime minister. The 2019 Conservative manifesto promised to "urgently" seek cross-party consensus to legislate for long-term reform, but Rishi Sunak's government in October postponed an overhaul of charging until 2025.

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Denne historien er fra March 24, 2023-utgaven av The Guardian.

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