Liverpool city council will begin consulting next week on plans to increase the rate paid for elderly care in residential and nursing homes across Merseyside.
The council helps towards the funding of fees for the care of 2, 364 older people and older people with dementia, costing almost £27 million a year.
The proposals look at increasing the amount of money of which is paid to homes that care for these elderly people. The money will come from efficiencies elsewhere.
They have worked with providers to create a 12-month review in which they have evaluated details of their actual costs to help them work out a fair rate for fees.
Assistant Mayor and Cabinet member for adult and social care, Councillor Roz Gladden, outlined to JMU Journalism exactly how nursing and residential homes may be affected by the rise.
She said: “Any increase in fee rate will help with the financial viability of the home or homes in question and should be used to make improvements in care and accommodation quality for all residents that City Council is paying for.
“But this will be different for each home as each is a private or voluntary sector business in its own right and will have different priorities, different bed capacity and different training requirements and staffing levels.”
The proposed increase will cost the council up to £723,000 per year.
Residential care, residential care for dementia, nursing care and nursing care for dementia are set to benefit from the rise.
Cllr Gladden added: “Funding will be achieved by increased efficiencies elsewhere such as reducing the need for care in the first place, for example by greater use of more re-ablement services that reduce the need for long-term residential care or home care placements.”
Now that the proposals have been approved, the next stage is a formal consultation with all affected providers, and the council will look at putting the increase into effect later this year.
Senior officers are to meet on Wednesday 20th February to start the process.