Picture: ITV's Paul Brand
ICSM Credit issues a red warning light to firms who supply care homes with anything from brochures to blankets as the numbers closing or being liquidated rises revealed in ITV's shocking report
It was once seen as a rock solid business venture due to the increasing numbers of elderly people but with Covid-19 the retirement home sector has collapsed.
Hundreds of homes have closed due to the pandemic taking the lives of thousands of their residents.
“Relatives and their elderly parents and grandparents are reluctant to send them to a home,” said Ian Carrotte of ICSM Credit, “decimating the cash flow of the retirement homes and sending them into liquidation. Suppliers are not getting paid or being paid late, and when a care home group goes bust they can lose everything. It’s a red warning light to anyone who supplies carehomes.”
ITV reveals extent of problem
Paul Brand of Independent Television has reported on the crisis in care homes painting a dramatic picture of empty beds, grieving relatives and collapsing industry.
He wrote on ITV’s website: “Care homes across the UK are on the brink of closure due to a dramatic rise in empty beds during the Covid pandemic, ITV News can reveal.Figures we’ve obtained from 61 councils in England, Scotland and Wales show that across the country the number of vacancies has almost doubled in a year, rising by 88%.With responsibility for care devolved to local authorities, our data shows empty beds increasing across almost every council area, but homes in some parts of the country have suffered particularly acutely.
“In Liverpool, vacancies - or ‘voids’ as care homes refer to them - were up 395% in August compared with the same time last year. In East Cheshire they had risen by 249% and in Derbyshire by 169%.
“The picture was similar across each of the three home nations that provided us with data. In Wales, vacancies were up 153% in Caerphilly, 123% in Neath Port Talbot and 121% in Merthyr.In Scotland, Dundee’s voids have shot up by 318% in a year, while the rise in South Lanarkshire is 282% and 122% in Glasgow.”
Ian Carrotte noted that ITV cited two care homes run by Shaw Healthcare in Speke and Everton which were in danger of closing, while many more are teetering on the brink.
“Many care homes are part of a larger company,” he said, “but many are stand-alone businesses, often converted from former hotels. The Governments of the UK are putting in millions of pounds into care homes so they can buy more PPE and to help them during the crisis but it is widely reported that around 1,000 have closed since March. That’s a lot of suppliers left unpaid – so maximum caution if you are a business asked to supply a care home this winter.”
About ICSM Credit
ICSM Credit has more than four decades of experience as a credit intelligence group whose members gain inside information about firms in trouble allowing them to avoid bad debts and rogue traders. To join costs less than a tank of fuel - while at the moment there's a special free temporary membership offer during the Covid-19 crisis which gives access to free legal letters. ICSM also has an effective debt collecting service which has a global reach - ask for details from Paul.
For details about ICSM Credit call 0844 854 1850 or visit the website www.icsmcredit.com or email Ian at Ian.carrotte@icsmcredit.com on how to subscribe and to join the UK’s credit intelligence network to avoid bad debts and late payers. Follow ICSM Credit on FaceBook, Twitter and YouTube and Ian Carrotte on LinkedIn.
To keep up to date subscribe to the FREE ICSM Credit Newsletter to hear all the latest insolvency news and to see who has gone out of business click on the orange panel on the top left of the home page of the website www.icsmcredit.com or send an email to Ian.carrotte@icsmcredit.com
For details for the work of the journalist Harry Mottram visit www.harrymottram.co.uk