Derbyshire County Council’s business services chief has blamed the authority’s former Conservative administration and the Labour Government for the collapse of plans to sell eight of its care homes which has left them in danger of being closed down.
The former Conservative-controlled council originally agreed to sell nine care homes while managing a multi-million pound budget deficit after it argued a need to refocus adult care services by supporting more dementia patients and helping more people to stay at home due to what it claimed was a decline in demand for residential care.
But last month the new Reform UK council administration confirmed the planned sale of eight of the nine earmarked care homes to a single provider had fallen through with claims from the union UNISON that the authority will be forced to shut these eight homes after a failed attempt to sell them.
Reform County Cllr Stephen Reed, Cabinet Member for Business Services, said: “It has been explained this decision was made under the Conservatives and the decision to close them if the deal fell through was a Conservative decision.”
He added the deal was also not commercially viable due to Government changes that have seen an increase in employer National Insurance contributions to be paid by employers and an increase in the minimum wage for employees.
Cllr Reed also claimed that anyone buying the council care homes would also be obliged to fulfil existing ‘huge’ pension commitments for the council employees based at the care homes.
He said: “Why did the deal fall through? It’s because it’s not commercially viable given the [minimum] wage increases and NI contributions and given they were taking on council employees with a huge pension. It was not commercially viable to take them.
“That is the national Government not understanding the economy and not understanding business in the country. It is all well and good pointing fingers at us but there is an interest in care homes but not with our staff.”
Cllr Reed said the council will have to go through a process and consider where it may be able to reposition staff within the council but he added that there is a problem because the council is overstaffed by comparison with others even though some services are struggling because of issues with skill sets.
He said: “We have to go through the process and part of that is where we can reposition people in the council. But there is a big problem because we are overstaffed as a whole organisation by comparison with others but some services are struggling with challenges because of skill sets.
“And it’s not fair to say every single department is overstaffed. If we can reposition people we will.”
Regional GMB union spokesperson Mick Coppin has said the county council’s plans put vital services and more than 200 jobs at risk.
The former Conservative administration previously stated that it opted to sell the council care homes due to massive financial pressures and due to changes in adult social care moving away from residential care to more independent living support and with a view to sustaining some sort of care at the homes.
Leader of the council’s opposition Conservative Group, Cllr Alex Dale, said Cllr Reed is referring to a decision made in November, 2024, should the eventuality of a failed sale have arisen but he stressed the Reform administration can still decide to act differently and it can put the matter back out to tender and save the care homes from closure.
Cllr Dale said: “Reform councillors are being extremely selective with the truth.
“The previous Conservative administration took a difficult but necessary decision to sell the council’s remaining care homes as going concerns because it was the best way to protect residents, safeguard staff and put adult social care on a more sustainable footing. That approach would have saved around £6million a year while allowing people to remain in their homes under new ownership.
“It is true that the November 2024 Cabinet report set out that closure would be considered ‘if it was not possible’ to sell the homes as going concerns. But Reform are really testing the limits of that phrase.
“The council was only informed on a Friday afternoon that the preferred bidder was withdrawing and by [the following] Monday, they’d jumped to the decision to close them.
“No serious attempt has been made to retender the homes, approach alternative providers or properly test the market again. It is simply not credible to claim that sale is ‘not possible’ when no effort has been made to pursue other options.
“Even if you accept Reform’s extremely rigid interpretation of that decision, which we do not, their actions still do not stand up to scrutiny. They are the Cabinet now. They are in power. It remains entirely within their gift to pause this process, reconsider their approach and take a different decision, like trying to find a new buyer. Blaming a previous administration cannot absolve them of responsibility for the choices they are making now.
“We will continue to urge Reform to do the right thing: halt the closure process and properly investigate alternative options to sell these homes as going concerns, rather than rushing headlong into closure and then trying to blame others for the consequences.”
Derbyshire County Council’s Reform-UK administration has previously stated the care homes had been made available as going concerns following a public consultation into changes to the way the council now aims to provide in-house care.
It added the focus of the council’s in-house care homes has changed to providing wraparound care for the growing number of people with dementia and their carers including long-term specialist dementia care with respite day and night breaks while working with health partners to increase the number of community support beds to help with discharges from hospital.
Cllr Joss Barnes, Cabinet Member for Adult Care, previously stated the council has changed the way it supports Derbyshire residents by creating specialist, efficient, effective and sustainable care to help more people stay in their own home for as long as they can.
But Derbyshire County Council has now stated plans are having to be revised for the future of the original eight care homes after their planned sale fell through and it cannot be progressed further.
Cllr Barnes has said that the health and wellbeing of residents, their families and friends and council colleagues is ‘our top priority’ and the council will continue to do everything it can to support them through this difficult time.
The eight care homes the former Conservative council agreed in November 2024 to stop operating and to sell included: Briar Close, at Borrowash; Castle Court, at Swadlincote; The Grange, at Eckington; Lacemaker Court, at Long Eaton; The Leys, at Ashbourne; New Bassett House, at Shirebrook; Rowthorne, at Swanwick; And Thomas Colledge House, at Bolsover.
Belper Together campaigners, who have opposed the council’s sale of its care homes, fear a similar fate with the prospect of closure awaits a ninth care home – Ada Belfield care home, in Belper – after the council has also agreed to sell this home and put it up for transfer on the open market.
The UNISON union opposed care home closures from the very start, led protests, organised public meetings and repeatedly urged the council to rethink plans it says risk uprooting vulnerable residents and breaking up experienced care teams.
Opposition Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green Party councillors previously joined campaigners and concerned residents in a failed bid to stop the former Conservative council agreeing to sell the original eight care homes.
They argued the decision would have a detrimental effect on some of the most vulnerable older people and the changes did not take into account an increasingly older population and what they believe is an increasing demand for residential care.
Nine Labour MPs also appealed to the former Conservative council administration in July, 2024, to reconsider its proposals to close the care homes after they claimed this could prove to be ‘devastating’ with ‘serious consequences’.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the possible planned closure of care homes in Derbyshire is ‘deeply concerning’ while the Government is making £3.7bn of extra funding available for councils to fund social care.
The Labour Government increased employer national insurance contributions to help raise revenue to fund public services especially the NHS, and it increased the minimum wage to support low income workers and provide a living wage despite some warning this could lead to a reduction in hiring.
Report by Jon Cooper – Local Democracy Reporter
