Council care home plan 'complete shambles'

A council will struggle to find providers to take over its care homes, an opposition leader has warned.

Conservative-run Norfolk County Council has said it was looking for other parties to run 17 homes currently managed by the private company it owns, Norse Care.

But Labour's Steve Morphew said the situation was "a complete shambles" and accused both the council and Norse of failing to properly invest in the homes.

The council said three of the sites run by Norse had "received significant investment", but more was needed to modernise other homes.

The authority said it was "seeking to secure investment to support the transformation of its care estate in Norfolk to meet residents' needs both now and in the future".

A report for the council's cabinet said, with Norse's contract coming to an end next March, the authority had begun testing the waters with other providers.

The report said the level of interest was "very positive" with some parties looking at taking on all the homes, and others only some.

But Morphew repeated previous concerns raised over a lack of investment in the homes and said "nobody is going to want to take over the whole of that contract all at once".

"It will be broken up – some of it will be sold off.

"The residential care provision from the county council as we've known it for decades will come to an end, there will be a fire sale to get rid of the liabilities,"

"It's a thoroughgoing mess, a complete shambles," he added.

Deputy Leader Andrew Jamieson said three homes had been modernised since the Norse contract began in 2011, but further work was stalled by the Covid pandemic.

He said interest rate increases after that made borrowing to fund improvements too expensive, but deals with new providers could lead to investment.

"We must keep pace with Norfolk's increasingly complex care needs and the expiry of this contract in March 2026 gives us a fresh opportunity to look at how we do that," he said.

The council said it was also looking for other providers to take over Norse's contract for housing with care services – which ends next March – and its contract for independent living services, which ends in October 2027.

A spokeswoman for Norse Care said the firm had been investing in the modernisation and safety requirements of its homes.

"Over £20 million has been invested in the development of two new care homes and major refurbishment work on two further homes," she added.

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