English councils spent £480m on ‘inadequate’ care homes in four years

theguardian.com:

Taxpayers have spent close to half a billion pounds buying beds in the worst care homes in England in the last four years, driving profits for private investors while residents suffer unsafe treatment, a Guardian investigation has revealed.

In what one affected family branded “a robbery of taxpayers’ money” and Labour said was “scandalous”, about £480m is estimated to have been spent on “inadequate” care homes – many rated unsafe and in special measures, meaning they are threatened with closure. They are often staffed by untrained agency workers, ignore residents’ needs and fail to provide proper nutrition and medicines in dirty and dangerous properties.

Billions more in public cash has been spent on homes rated “requires improvement”, many operated by chains providing large returns for overseas shareholders and creditors.

In all, councils have spent an estimated£7.5bnto put people in poor quality care homes since 2019, Guardian analysis of tens of thousands of public contracts and inspection records reveals.

The findings expose “a broken care system”, said Sarah McClinton, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, whose members commission council-funded care.

The Relatives and Residents Association said state payments to the worst homes were “propping up substandard care” and “failing the taxpayer”.

In 2022 one pound in every five spent by English local authorities buying residential elderly care was estimated to have been spent on paying for homes that were in the poorest categories. In the east Midlands that rose to almost a third of all public money spent last year – more than £200m.

The findings will pile pressure on the government for wholesale reform to “fix social care”, as promised when Boris