“Better deal” for Barnsley carers pay following fee increase

Residential care fees will increase by 5.6 percent, raising the cost of standard care to £548.90 per week, with the cost of dementia care rising to £592.28 per week.

The current weekly baseline fee for residential care for older people is currently £519.79.

A report to the council states that staffing costs have been brought in line with national living wage, which equates to 2.2 per cent.

The cost of homecare provision is also set to rise by 2.23 per cent, as the sector faces a number of challenges laid out in a report to the council’s cabinet, such as pay rises for staff and increased costs due to the pandemic.

Barnsley currently has 46 residential and nursing care homes, and the council funds 783 placements across those homes and 97 placements out of borough at a net cost to the council of £20.451M.

The increases are expected to cost £5.743M, some of which “would be offset through increased contributions from service users.”

The cost “would be contained within the approved 2021/22 budget for adult social care”.

During a cabinet meeting today (June 16), council leader Sir Steve Houghton said that the scheme began before covid, to improve quality and career prospects across the care sector, and “make sure carers got fair remuneration for what they do”.

“Hopefully the care homes owners now are slowly but surely taking this up, and giving the carers a much better deal.”