Solihull Council to increase funding for people in care homes

From April 2014, Solihull Council is increasing the fees it pays to residential and nursing care homes for older people and people with dementia by up to 16.5%. This increase in fees will cost the Council £805,000 more in 2014-15, a rise of 10.7%. The additional cost will be paid for from the existing adult social care budget.

The decision was taken by Councillor Bob Sleigh, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, at a recent council meeting. It means that maximum fee levels for older people’s residential care will increase by 16.5% to £439 per week. Fees for residential care for people with dementia will increase by 16.3% to £508 per week. Including NHS funded nursing care, council funding will rise to £615 per week for older people’s nursing care and £661 per week for nursing care for dementia. This represents increases of 14.3% and 16.4%.

Commenting on the increases, Councillor Sleigh said: “The revised care home fee levels represent a significant increase on existing fee levels.  They show our commitment to sustaining affordable quality in the residential and nursing care sector in Solihull. We have worked closely with local providers to achieve a sustainable longer-term settlement, based on a fair price that is affordable, which improves transparency and recognises how much things cost”.

He continued: “As well as benefitting providers, this increase is also intended to reduce the burden on Solihull residents and their families to fund third party top-up costs. With the new fee levels we expect top-ups to reduce by £275,000 and this cost will be met by the Council.”

For more information: http://www.solihull.gov.uk/news/30762.htm