Care home manager struggling to compete with rising wages

A care home manager in Cornwall said rising wages in other sectors was leaving the home without enough staff.

Peter Thomas, from Downes Care Home in Hayle, said the home cannot "compete" with tourism and hospitality sectors offering higher pay.

Mr Thomas said the lack of staff meant it was difficult to fill the 31-bed home.

Nadra Ahmed OBE, chairman of the National Care Association, said the workforce challenges the care sector is currently facing are "unprecedented" and there is "no light at the end of the tunnel".

Mr Thomas said people may choose to work in other sectors that pay more because although care work is "rewarding" it is "hard at times".

He said: "We've had several staff leave because they can get paid extra somewhere else in the hospitality, tourism and supermarkets as well.

"We've just put our wages up to try and compete but it's still not enough."

Mr Thomas said they were looking at what fees the residents were paying and if those did not cover the staff's pay the home would go bust.

He added: "In order to get the best care and best staff we need money coming in to pay them extra and if that's not coming in it's really hard."

Ms Ahmed echoed the manager's concerns, and said this was an issue the entire care sector was facing.

She said: "The workforce challenges the sector currently face are unprecedented.

"There appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel due to the fact that we cannot compete with retail or hospitality in relation to wages.

"The settlement for social care has consistently been woefully inadequate."

In January, senior figures in the care industry warned the sector was in crisis due to staffing shortages.

Elsewhere in the country, one care home owner in Somerset was unable to find local staff to fill vacancies and had to remortgage her own home to fund bringing in workers from abroad.