UKHCA welcomes the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report exposing the quality of homecare in England.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) this week reported that some basic home care breaches human rights. Nearly 500,000 people receive Council funded care at home, but this has led to cases of physical abuse, theft, neglect and disregard for privacy and dignity.

The UK Homecare Association (UKHCA) welcomed this report as an important contribution to safeguarding the well-being of people who use home-based care. They believe that the problems are resulting from a reduction in visit time and staff wages, therefore reducing the flexibility of the care provided – and also staff morale.

A statement on the UKHCA website said: “One in four careworkers speaking to EHRC raised the length of time they had with people for whom they care as a concern. This is almost entirely a result of Councils reducing the amount of service they fund and the impossibly low rates they pay for very short homecare visits, which do not permit sufficient flexibility when more care is required. Last week UKHCA took the unprecedented move of writing to every council in England and Wales drawing attention to the increasingly difficult conditions imposed on the sector, which are leading providers to consider using the courts as a final resort to address inadequate funding.”

EHRC commissioner Baroness Sally Greengross, who led the report commented: “One of the ways to stop it continuing is to close the loophole, which means that any care that’s commissioned by a local authority or another public body should come under the Human Rights Act so people are protected from abuse.”

Councillor John Merry, of the Local Government Association, said: “These results are symptomatic of a social care system that is under-funded and in need of urgent reform. The longer ministers procrastinate, the more our population ages and the worse things will become.”

So, will this report prevent the home care problem getting any worse in the future?

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