Care Markets

Care Minister Norman Lamb could oversee calls for care commissioners to be rated in the same way that care providers are, following a debate...

Care UK has acquired Living Ambitions, a local supported living service for adults with learning disabilities in Lancashire and Salford, from owner Peter Watson...

Cygnet Springside Stockport is offering residential social care for young adults, aged 18 and over, as part of a pathway into independent future living. The...

New Century Group reported high losses for the year ending 31 December 2011 as it seeks to refinance and is locked in negotiations with...

Privately funded extra care is only viable south of Birmingham due to the housing market according to stakeholders speaking at Laing & Buisson’s Social...

Two Rochdale-based children’s care providers have initiated legal proceedings against Rochdale council leader Colin Lambert after he said that the borough was the ‘wrong...

Care Minister Norman Lamb could oversee calls for care commissioners to be rated in the same way that care providers are, following a debate held with independent providers at last month’s Social Care Forum. During questions from delegates at the Laing & Buisson hosted event, in response to an exhange focused on funding issues and a concern that commissioners more often than not adopt the lowest cost models, the minister said that among the raft of measures he would like to roll out across the social care sector (including a clamp down on any companies failing to pay the national minimum wage for carers – see this issue news) was a concept to introduce a rating system for commissioners, similar to the Jeremy Hunt announced plan to usher in Ofsted-style ratings of providers (CCMn April 2013). Mr Lamb told a packed Westminster audience made up of senior care executives: We seem to have created a model of commissioner/provider where we focus on the quality of the provider. I think that is a good thing because people can aspire to get to the next level in terms of quality but we do not do the same with commissioners.

Privately funded extra care is only viable south of Birmingham due to the housing market according to stakeholders speaking at Laing & Buisson’s Social Care Forum last month.

Care UK has acquired Living Ambitions, a local supported living service for adults with learning disabilities in Lancashire and Salford, from owner Peter Watson for an undisclosed sum last month.

New Century Group reported high losses for the year ending 31 December 2011 as it seeks to refinance and is locked in negotiations with one lender over the alleged mis-selling of rate hedging products which the provider said resulted in a significant loss of profit. Directors reported they had been advised by a leading counsel that there is a strong case that some rate hedging products had been mis-sold to the business by one of its lenders which caused a loss of profit. The group, which provides residential and nursing care posted turnover of £36.4m (2010: £35.6m) but costs of £23.3m and administrative expenses of 11.4m meant that an operating profit of just £1.7m was achieved (2010: £1.1m). This was subsequently wiped out by high interest charges of £2.3m (2011: £2.9m) and following taxation, a loss of £671,300 was recorded (2010: £4.2m)