COUNCILS are inadequately funding home care services for the elderly, a new report claims.

The report by the UK Home Care Association (UKHCA), which represents home care providers, pointed out significant variations in the hourly rate paid.

It said only North Yorkshire County Council paid above what it set as a minimum price for homecare – £15.74 per hour – which complied with national minimum wage rates and took into account care workers’ travel time and travel costs.

But the authority's rate of £17.06 an hour was “out of step” with the majority of other councils in the region.

The lowest payers in the survey the UKHCA undertook were South Tyneside (£11) and Stockton Borough Council (£11.01).

UKHCA policy director Colin Angel said that unless under funding was addressed the care market would become commercially unsustainable for the providers who deliver home care purchased by the state.

He added: "Low prices paid for homecare services carry a number of risks, including poor terms and conditions for the workforce and insufficient resources to organise the service and insufficient training for the complex work that supports the increasingly frail and disabled individuals who qualify for state-funded support.”

Councillor Jim Beall, Stockton Borough Council’s cabinet member for adult services and health, said: “We have increased the rates we pay to home care providers since this report was compiled but what is needed is a fundamental review of local Government funding so that the financing of essential services such as adult social care can be put on a firm and sustainable footing.

“We take a number of factors into consideration when reviewing fees, including inflation, changes to the minimum wage, and actual costs incurred by providers.”

A spokeswoman for South Tyneside Council said: “The council is currently undertaking a retendering exercise for home care and the rate is under review.”

North Yorkshire County Council said the average cost of domiciliary care in the county was now £17 an hour, one factor behind that being higher travel costs due to the size of the county.

A spokeswoman said: “This figure reflects in large part the cost of delivering a quality service and the need to attract good staff so that wage rates tend to be higher than in some other authorities and also care staff are paid the legal requirement for their travelling time.”

She said the authority had recently signed new “exacting” contracts with domiciliary care providers which meant that they were contractually bound to deliver consistent and timely care.