Entrepreneur’s call for proper fee structure to improve care

Lawrence Tomlinson, who owns and runs the Leeds-based LNT Group, made the comments after MPs called for Government action to tackle the financial challenges facing the social care market.

The abrupt collapse of Southern Cross, Britain’s biggest care homes operator, over the summer caused turmoil for more than 30,000 elderly and vulnerable people.

The firm was crippled by having to pay a £250m rent bill as councils sought to cut fees in the wake of the first credit crunch.

However, the Public Accounts Committee’s report said effective oversight of the market was still not in place.

The report said there was no early warning system to spot providers who might be getting into difficulty, and no apparent plan for what happens if they fail. At the same time, care homes are facing rises in costs and reductions in what local authorities will pay for places.

Currently, 63 per cent of funding for homes comes from the public purse.

Mr Tomlinson, whose business empire includes Ideal Care Homes, said yesterday: “I have been campaigning for high quality, personalised and affordable care for all, but I need more local authorities to recognise the need to encourage quality and promote improved services in their areas.

“I am increasingly of the view that this will only be achieved by the implementation of a national fee framework, that local authorities can work to, that provides and rewards quality care. This should be accompanied by the abolition of third party top-up fees.”

According to Mr Tomlinson, the care home sector labours under a complex and inconsistent financing structure.

He added: “What we as a society need is for the sector to focus on providing good quality of care at a fair price for all. If we sit back and continue to simply monitor, then those quality care providers that are out there will turn their focus away from local authority residents..This will leave the local authority residents with an increasingly poor quality pool of care to choose from.”