County Council welcomes ruling on home fees
Devon County Council has welcomed a High Court ruling that the way it calculates the fees it pays to independent sector care homes is fair and reasonable.
The judgement that the decision on fees was “a rational one which was preceded by a fair consultation process” comes after a judicial review into the way that this year’s 6.6% increase in fees was calculated.
The legal challenge was brought by a small number of independent care home owners and made on three separate grounds.
In addition to claiming the model used to calculate fee levels was flawed and unreasonable and challenging the way that consultation was conducted, the claimants also argued that due regard was not given to equalities in assessing the impact of the decision.
Issuing its full judgement today, the High Court found in favour of the County Council on two of the three grounds.
It ruled that the model used to calculate fees was in fact rational and reasonable and that the consultation process was fair and gave sufficient opportunity for home owners to give a meaningful response.
However, following the intervention of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, the Court decided that the Council had not technically discharged its duty regarding the assessment of the equalities impact of its funding decision – particularly in relation to the impact of potential home closures.
The County Council has therefore undertaken to conduct a more detailed equalities assessment, and take any specific findings into account. This may, or may not result in a change to fee rates.
Responding to the ruling, Tim Golby, the Council’s lead on social care commissioning, said:
“We very much welcome the Court’s ruling that the way we calculated this year’s 6.6% fee increase was fair and appropriate.
“The judgement shows clearly that the model we used was rational, took into account the level and quality of care, and that we consulted widely before implementing the decision.
“We are however very disappointed the judge felt that we did not pay enough regard to equalities legislation and that we had not properly considered the impact of home closures when setting fees.
“We firmly believe that assessing and meeting the needs of vulnerable elderly people in a fair way is integral to everything we do and always at the forefront of our thinking.
“We also have a good record of working with homes at risk of potential closure to ensure residents are not disadvantaged in any way and are fully protected.”
Councillor Stuart Barker, Cabinet Member responsible for adult social care in Devon added:
“The Council relies on private providers to deliver the vast majority of residential care for older people across Devon who are eligible for the Council’s support.
“We know that some home owners are feeling the pinch but like everyone else over the last few years they have needed to become more efficient.
“We also understand the pressures on the market and that is why, after consulting widely, we decided to substantially increase fees by an inflation busting 6.6% this year.
“Care home businesses can and will fail for many reasons including quality and a failure to attract private customers.
“We try to set our fees at a fair level so that efficient homes are sustainable but we have a clear duty to use public money wisely.
“We also need to make sure we are buying only the right kinds of services and care packages to meet local needs.
“I sincerely hope that this ruling means we can now all move on and get back to working together to provide for Devon’s growing numbers of older people instead of wasting valuable time and money on expensive legal action.”
