Summary: Mrs X complains about Barchester Healthcare Homes Limited’s annual 5.9% increase in Mr Y’s care home fees. We cannot criticise Barchester over the annual fee increase.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complains about Barchester Healthcare Homes Limited’s (Barchester’s) annual 5.9% increase in Mr Y’s care home fees.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about adult social care providers and decide whether their actions have caused an injustice, or could have caused injustice, to the person making the complaint or others. I have used the term fault to describe such actions. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 34B and 34C)
3. This complaint involves events that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government introduced a range of new and frequently updated rules and guidance during this time. We can consider whether the care provider followed the relevant legislation, guidance and our published “Good Administrative Practice during the response to COVID-19”.

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Mrs X;
• discussed the complaint with Mrs X;
• considered the documents the care provider has provided; and
• shared a draft of this statement with Mrs X and the care provider, and taken account of the comments received.

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What I found

Key facts

5. Mrs Y’s father-in-law, Mr Y, moved to one of Barchester’s care homes in 2019. Barchester’s initial contract for his placement was with a local authority, as no one had access to his funds. The Court of Protection appointed Mrs X and other family members as Deputies to manage his finances in August 2019. The local authority continued to fund Mr Y’s placement in the care home until 10 July 2020. After that, Mr Y was responsible for funding his own placement
6. The care home’s admission form for Mr Y says he became a long stay permanent resident on 11 July 2020. It says the weekly fee was £1,200 and “This will automatically increase by 5.9% each 1st of April”. It says there was a refundable deposit of £2,400 plus initial fees of £8,914.29. Mrs X annotated the form saying she did not agree to pay the deposit but had paid the initial fees in full. The form says Mrs X provided proof of funding for two years on 11 November 2020.
7. Mrs X says she had no choice but to sign the form, which along with the Resident Contract Terms comprised the contract for Mr Y’s placement. She says it would not have been in his best interests to move.
8. In February 2021 Barchester wrote to say Mr Y’s fees would be increasing by 5.9% from 1 April. It said it had received some Government funding for exceptional costs (because of COVID-19), but this did not cover all the costs incurred. It said these factors had affected its costs:
• 2.2% increase in the national living wage;
• 5% increase in nurses’ pay;
• average pay increases of 7.5% for all its staff, including extra awards to reflect the hard work during the COVID-19 pandemic;
• additional costs due to COVID-19 (personal protective equipment, space for contact with relatives, overnight accommodation, testing for COVID-19);
• increases gas, electricity and water costs;
• investment in its homes;
• rent increase; and
• 300% increase in insurance costs because of COVID-19.
9. Mrs X wrote to complain about the increase. When Barchester replied on 29 March, it said:
• as she was aware, the contract for Mr Y’s placement provided for an annual increase in the fees of 5.9%;
• there were always cost pressures;
• the support it had received from Government (because of COVID-19) did not cover all the costs increases; and
• it would not waive the fee increase.
10. Mrs X wrote to Barchester again as she was not happy with its response. When Barchester replied on 10 May it said:
• it accepted there had been an incident when staff used one of the care home’s towels, rather than one provided by Mr Y’s family, and the Manager had addressed this with the member of staff;
• it accepted Mr Y had not been wearing socks when his family visited in July. Staff had thought it warm enough not to do so but had apologised when Mrs X raised concerns after the visit;
• it had apologised for dressing Mr Y in a jumper which did not belong to him and was too small. It had made changes to prevent this from happening again;
• the arrangements for a visit in November had been in line with Government guidance in place at the time, having taken place outside with Mr & Mrs X wearing masks and keeping their distance from Mr Y;
• the contract with the local authority, which did not provide for an annual fee increase, had not been the same as the contract Mrs X signed, which did;
• it would not waive the 5.9% fee increase; and
• it had submitted a new application for NHS Continuing Healthcare funding on 2 April.
11. Mrs X wrote to Barchester again on 21 June. She said Mr Y had caught COVID‑19 when no visits to the care home had been allowed. She said it must have been brought in by a member of staff. She noted he had recovered but said the fact he caught COVID-19 did not support the fee increase. She complained to the Ombudsman three days later.

Did the care provider’s actions cause injustice?

12. It is not for the Ombudsman to tell private care providers what they can charge. Barchester’s standard contract for privately funded placements provides for an annual 5.9% increase. Mrs X was aware of this when she signed the admissions form. She says she had no choice but to sign the contract, as it was in Mr Y’s best interests to remain where he was. It is for Mrs X to reach a view on whether that remains the case despite the fees increasing by 5.9% each year.
13. The other issues Mrs X has raised within the context of her complaint about the increase in care fees do not provide grounds for us to tell Barchester to waive the increase.

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Final decision

14. I have completed my investigation, as we cannot tell Barchester what it should charge for Mr Y’s care.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman