The National Care Forum (NCF) has condemned an around 50 per cent cut to the government’s Infection Control Fund available to care homes amid a rise in Covid cases.
The representative body, which speaks for not-for-profit care organisations, said grant conditions published on 1 October for round two of the £546m fund will mean care homes will receive around half each month than received in the last round.
The NCF said it welcomed the government had recognised infection control pressures stretch wider than care homes, and that it has included domiciliary care, extra care and supported living settings within the funding.
However, it is “hugely disappointing”, the NCF added, that the government has chosen to do that while simultaneously reducing the total amount of the fund and extending the period of the funding.
“In practice, this means care homes, who were the primary focus of the first round of the ICF, will receive on average approximately only 50 per cent of the funding per month that they received in the last round, in the face of tighter restrictions around staff movement and greatly increased reporting requirements,” said NCF executive director Vic Rayner (pictured).
“This is extremely unhelpful at the outset of what looks to be an incredibly challenging winter period,” she added.
