Care England has revealed the results of a survey on pay, which are in line with other key messages from the sector - namely the fragility of the system owing to inadequate and unsustainable fees from local authorities.
Professor Martin Green OBE, chief executive of Care England, says: “Care England’s survey makes is clear that providers are expecting higher staffing costs and falling profits while demand continues to increase. In order to manage this, providers are anticipating fewer local authority placements while investing in technology and services to respond to demand. The sector can and must adapt, but dynamics are shifting and unless local authorities pay the commensurate rate to providers there will be a lack of capacity for local authority funded residents and the ongoing workforce challenges will not be addressed."
Key Statistics
· 96% of providers expected their overall staffing budget to increase this year and all expected further increases over the next three years to keep pace with demand. Staffing budgets make up the bulk of costs for providers.
· Only 10% of providers expected profit margins to increase in 2017/ 18 and this slightly increased to 15% projecting an increase in profit over the next three years. Conversely 55% of providers were projecting a fall in profits up to 2020.
· As a consequence providers were projecting a decrease in the number of local authority placements taken on, with 32% projecting a decrease in placements accepted in 2017/18 which increased to 45% of providers projecting to take on less Local Authority placements over the next three years.
Professor Martin Green, continues: “Providers are realising the potential of technology in order to streamline their businesses and reduce the demand for staff.”
