FOLLOWING criticism of its plans to not increase domiciliary care funding across the county, Worcestershire County Council has defended its support for carers.

Cllr Adrian Hardman, cabinet member for adult social care, was speaking after a letter from Crossroads Worcestershire attacked the council for its proposed 0 per cent increase to domiciliary care funding.

He said: "The County Council has fully supported Adult Social Care providers during the difficult Covid pandemic, providing as much support as possible including one-off funding grands and supplies of PPE.

"We wrote to Adult Social Care providers, including all domiciliary care providers, at the start of January as part of a consultation into proposed fees for the 2021/2 financial year, included in the Council’s draft budget.

"All of the responses we received are currently being assessed and these will feed into the draft budget which is being discussed by Full Council on February 18.

"There are unfortunately significant financial pressures in Adult Social Care due to the rising cost of more complex care needs, as well as increases in the cost of both transport and care delivery.

"The Council forecasts that these pressures will continue to grow following the COVID pandemic but we will fully engage with providers and let them know of any decisions made."

In the letter, Crossroads' chief officer Roger Garland said the plans were "a kick in the teeth" for carers across the county, adding the rise in healthcare costs caused by the Covid-19 pandemic would see care companies struggle to cope.

He said: "The true cost of providing a good quality domiciliary care service within Worcestershire already exceeds the amounts the County Council is paying, amounts that were agreed well before we even knew of the global pandemic and the dramatic impact that it would have on service delivery.

"I find it hard to believe that any County Council member or officer worth their salt would accept this poor level of provision, but can see that decisions about domiciliary care services within our county are based upon finance rather than quality.”