Chair of Charlotte Straker Project urges reverse of NI rise

Berenice Groves of the Charlotte Straker Project in Corbridge wrote to Hexham MP Joe Morris, calling on him to reverse the increase for registered care homes in the latest Budget, claiming these changes will 'significantly impact' the home's ability to continue offering the support it has provided for over three decades. 

The news comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves' Budget outlines tax exemptions for the NHS and public sector, however, this does not apply to private care homes or hospices providing NHS services. 

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Ms Groves said the changes will impact the care sector as a whole and could force some care homes and hospices to 'seriously consider' whether they can afford to continue.

"I am writing to you on behalf of our Board of Trustees following the recent Budget to urge you to reverse the National Insurance charges (NIC) increase for registered care homes," Ms Groves said. "The changes announced will have a significant impact on our ability to continue to offer the support we have provided to the local NHS and Social Care authority for over 30 years.

Berenice Groves, chair of the Charlotte Straker Project (Image: Supplied)

"We are a 32-bed not-for-profit, dual-registered, independent care home operating as a charity in West Northumberland.

"We provide one room as a community respite bed (CRB) service which is widely used by local families. It is funded from our charitable reserves and therefore free to use by our local community with priority being given to those in the most pressing need.

"For our home the increase in NIC alone is £51,000 and the increase in minimum wage a further £17,000 which totals a £68,000 increase to our costs. The increase in minimum wage will have an inevitable knock-on effect on differentials and will require us to adjust salaries for other roles, increasing costs further.

"Our CRB service started in 2017 and was very well received. We had to close the service during the COVID lockdown and, initially, could not afford to continue to fund it once the sector began to open up again. We reopened the CRB service on May 1 this year through our fundraising efforts, there is 97 per cent occupancy as it supports hard-pressed carers providing short breaks for their loved ones.

"The NIC increase noted above roughly equates to the cost of running our CRB service for a year. As a small organisation, we do not have the capacity to raise this amount of money by further fundraising activities and hence may need to look again at its future operation. We do think however that the cessation of this well-used local service would be very detrimental to local people.

"Whilst we are concerned about the impact that the proposed NIC increase will have upon our own home it is important that the scale of the impact on the care sector as a whole is fully understood. 

"The care sector employs 1.7 million people in the UK which is more than the NHS. In the last three years over 200,000 carers have been brought into the UK, yet vacancies are running at over 10 per cent. At Charlotte Straker we, like many others in the sector, have struggled to recruit staff, resulting in agency costs and further pressure on our finances.

"Why should we and others in the sector have to effectively underwrite the provision of care through fundraising and then be faced with yet more costs arising as a direct result of the Budget decisions? We understand that other care home providers, and even hospices are seriously considering whether they are in a position to continue operating as a result.

"Alongside this, demand for social care is rising and it is estimated that there will be 3.3 million more people aged over 65 in the next decade. Inevitably the ability of local authorities to provide social care will deteriorate as a result of the additional demands on the sector from the increased number of people aged over 65 and a potential reduction in the number of care homes that are able to meet these increasing costs.

"The key role that the care sector plays in supporting the work of care services overlapping with both the NHS and Adult Social Care is widely recognised, including by your Government, and so it is difficult to understand why organisations such as ourselves are not exempt from the NIC increase as they are.

"If we have no viable care sector to support hospital discharges then patients will have to remain within hospital for longer, and at a higher cost, thereby clearly impacting your Government's planned improvements being delivered within the NHS. 

"The situation is only going to get worse for the sector and yet your Government sees fit to add to our costs at the same time as exempting the public sector from the NIC increase. Where is the strategic vision by your Government or indeed evidence of an understanding of how much strain the care sector is in?

"Your Government continually maintain that you have tough decisions to take yet your proposals can only lead to further deterioration in the provision of care in and for local communities. It is not too late to respond to the genuine concerns being expressed by so many areas of our society and exempt these sections from the proposed NIC increases.

"We are keen for you to visit Charlotte Straker, this will allow us to have a more in-depth discussion about the short-term impact of the NIC changes, but also about the intermediate impacts to providing care in this community. We would welcome showing you our home with an opportunity to meet some of our residents and staff who are also your constituents."

Joe Morris MP said "Firstly, I thank Ms Groves for reaching out and opening up this discussion. I understand the importance of care homes like Charlotte Straker and the role they play in adult social care, as such I was pleased to meet with trustees recently where we had a productive discussion about their concerns and about the future of the sector.

"The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has also acknowledged concern over potential increases to National Insurance charges for care homes and is looking into the health and social care budget.

"The UK has one of the most generous tax regimes for charities in the world and this Government is committed to protecting small charities like Charlotte Straker House. Our focus now is on injecting the money into the NHS that it so desperately needs and fulfilling our pledge to rebuild the foundations of our economy."