SOCIAL care charges in Swansea look likely to rise by 6% from April while residential care costs could increase by 14%.
It would mean people who receive domiciliary care from the council paying £28.62p for each hour of care – 6% more than the £27 per hour they currently pay.
However, in Wales the most people pay per week for domiciliary care is £100 – irrespective of their savings – with their local council funding the rest. This is a more generous provision than in England.
The proposed 6% rise would also increase the annual cost of a community alarm – a monitored service installed in people’s homes – from £187.26p excluding VAT to £198.50p.
Meanwhile, residential care home fees for council-run care homes could rise by 14% from £900 to £1,026 per week from April. This is expected to affect only a small number of people in Swansea – around 13 – who fund or part-fund their residential care home costs, and extra support would be offered to them.
The council places some people in privately-run care homes and pays those care homes a weekly fee for those who are eligible, and that fee is also set to rise by 14% from £900 to £1,026 per week. The fee is slightly higher for people in nursing homes than standard care homes.
The 14% recommendation follows a cost survey and consultation and is described in a report going before cabinet as “the maximum the council can reasonably sustain at this time”. The report also said there was “some intelligence to justify a higher increase”, and noted that
Swansea’s current £900 weekly fee for private care homes was currently lower than those paid by Bridgend, Cardiff, Powys and Pembrokeshire councils.
Social care is a complicated subject because of the different way residential care is funded compared to non-residential care, who provides it, and who pays what.
The NHS – funded out of taxation, free at the point of need and delivered by the state – is a much more simple concept. The Welsh Government has announced plans to create a new national care service in the long term, but the question of how to pay for it is very difficult.
One common denominator for social care, taking into account carer pay awards, higher employer national employer contributions, and high energy and food costs, is that it’s getting more expensive to provide.
“These factors mean that the cost of delivering social care is rising faster than general inflation,” said the cabinet report.
Care Forum Wales, which represents private and third sector care providers, has previously raised concerns about what it described as a “postcode lottery of fees” paid by local authorities and incremental increases not keeping up with rising costs.
Referring to the 14% fee increase the council is being recommended to pay private care homes in Swansea, Care Forum Wales chairman Mario Kreft said: “Once Swansea Council’s cabinet has come to a decision, we will take a close look to consider what the new rates they are proposing mean for providers and more importantly for the people for whom they provide care because their well-being is always our number one priority.”
