AN MP is highlighting the "need" for the rates paid by Conwy Council to care homes to match what private clients must pay.

Conwy Council commissions about 790 beds supporting individuals in residential and/or nursing care placements. The gross spend within Conwy on residential and nursing services was £23.2m in 2021/22.

Providers in Conwy County are indicating to the local authority that the combination of unpredicted high levels of inflation, increasing care levels due to more complex services, and current workforce pressures are resulting in a financial shortfall relating to residential and nursing care.

Mrs Finch-Saunders, who challenged Mark Drakeford MS, First Minister, in the Welsh Parliament, last month over the issue, said: "I visited an Extra Care Housing scheme and the chief executive made clear to me that the rates Conwy Council pay do not cover the costs, and that private clients are having to make up the difference.

“It is wrong that the local authority is paying less to care homes than the actual cost of the service being provided. Such lack of equality should be urgently addressed.

“If care homes have to close, the social care crisis locally and nationally will only become worse, so I urged the First Minister to work with Conwy Council to see fair rates paid, and as such ensure that state paid fees match what private clients have to pay”.

In response to Mrs Finch-Saunders points, Mr Drakeford said: "We've rehearsed many times here the calls that come from different parts of Wales to reform the funding formula, and we have always said, as a Government, that when local authorities come forward with a proposal for reform, of course we will be prepared to discuss it with them. What we cannot possibly do, as the member will understand, is negotiate a separate formula for each of the 22 local authorities.

"There is a single formula, as there is in England, as there is in Scotland. It's unavoidable that you have a single system. The system can be reformed, but it can only be reformed with the agreement of local authorities themselves.

"As to the point that she makes about guaranteeing an in-line-with-inflation rise in the funding of those services, I hope she is relaying that point to the new Government at Westminster, because if they will give us that uplift, we will definitely give it to the services that she has spoken about.”

Cllr Penny Andow, cabinet member for Integrated Adult and Community Services at Conwy County Borough Council, said: “Conwy County Borough Council works in partnership with care home providers to ensure that our care home fees are both fair and affordable. We are acutely aware that social care is underfunded and as such have been working with other local authorities across Wales to address this with Welsh Government.

"We look forward to a positive outcome to the discussions MS Janet Finch Saunders is also having with Welsh Government on this matter.”