FLINTSHIRE and Wrexham Councils have defended their support for care homes after being included in a league of shame by Care Forum Wales. A “terrible ten” local authorities who pay the lowest care home fees in Wales have been named and shamed – including five of the six councils in North Wales. According to industry champions Care Forum Wales (CFW), care homes are the victims of an untenable post code lottery which means they are paid wildly differing fees depending on which county they are in. Flintshire and Wrexham were sixth and eighth in the list. Flintshire Council agreed that social care funding in Wales and across the UK needs to be greatly increased and be sustained into the future.
A BODY representing almost 500 independent social care providers has called a council s decision to base care home fees on paying half the staff the minimum wage a “kick in the teeth for frontline coronavirus. heroes . Care Forum Wales has slammed Flintshire Council for condemning staff in privately-run care homes to the minimum wage while paying carers in council-run homes nearly £2,500 a year more. In Wales, pay rates for carers are effectively determined by local councils who set the level of fees care homes and domiciliary care companies receive. Flintshire, along with many other authorities and health boards, use a formula which calculates how much they want to allocate towards all care home costs, including what staff are paid.