Further fuelling concerns of a full-blown crisis in the UK Care sector, market analysts Plimsoll have taken a closer look at performance of the leading Care Home operators and Domiciliary Care companies providing home care. The results are alarming:
CARE HOMES
Crippled by high running costs and increasing demand, many Care Homes operators are on the brink. With almost half of the UK's 1500 leading providers receiving a financial "Danger" rating, Plimsoll has revealed that warning bells have been ringing in the market for a number of years:
Total Companies Analysed: 1500
Number making a loss: 285
Number in danger: 725
Number carrying more debt: 419
Number making less profit: 675
HOME CARE PROVIDERS
Companies are now handing back contracts to local authorities because they simply cannot make a profit at the rates offered. Rises in the minimum wage, staff shortages and looming changes to immigration are pushing many providers to the brink. The latest analysis by Plimsoll shows:
Total Companies Analysed: 1500
Number making a loss: 493
Number in danger: 343
Number carrying more debt: 215
Number making less profit: 709
With 725 companies already rated as Danger by Plimsoll clearly the crisis in the Care Home market is more advanced. However, the problems in the Home Care sector are mounting at an alarming rate. Almost half of the UK’s leading operators have seen their profitability fall in the latest period. More worrying, a third of companies made a loss in the latest year.
The future looks bleak for this politically sensitive sector of the UK economy. Tighter rules on employing staff post Brexit would exacerbate an already large recruitment crisis. Inflation is eroding the already wafer thin profit margins. Further cuts to spending on elderly care provide little incentive for companies to stay in the industry. All this in the face of exploding demand.
As the baby boomer generation continues to age, the financial bedrock on which their care assumptions were made looks shaky. The solution to the problem is a complicated, political one but the precarious nature of the financial landscape means it cannot be kicked down the road for much longer.
Further information on both these titles is available at www.plimsoll.co.uk