Coronavirus: Additional funding given to Shropshire care providers to boost resources

Shropshire Council is offering the support to help with the additional costs care providers are incurring in relation to the purchasing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), agency staff, funding for staff who are unable to work, and other financial challenges.

The authority is providing an additional 10 per cent on top of the existing contractual payments for each provider, to help meet their additional financial demands.

Working with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) and the Local Government Association (LGA), the council has coordinated additional fees to be paid to the provider market to address extra costs due to Covid-19, and support with cash flow.

Andy Begley, Shropshire Council’s acting joint interim chief executive, and executive director of adult social care and housing, said: “We are delighted to be able to give frontline care provider organisations a one-off payment which is representative of an additional 10 per cent of their contract value, for three months.

“This additional funding will allow us to work together to enable the most vulnerable people to continue to be cared for by providers in the community, and to support individuals when they are discharged from hospital.

“It really is important that we let providers know how immensely grateful we are to them for working with us and going way above and beyond as organisations at this extremely difficult time. Working closely with Shropshire Partners in Care, we are in contact with all of our providers, with a team of staff carrying out regular welfare calls, as well as making sure all our providers have access to information that they need and get answers to their concerns and questions.

“Once again, we cannot thank our providers enough for everything they are doing, we don’t know where we would be without them.”

Nicky Jacques, chief officer at Shropshire Partners in Care (SPIC), added: “On behalf of all our members at SPIC we very much welcome and appreciate the council’s provision of additional financial support for all care providers during the pandemic.

“Care providers are currently on the frontline working hard to continue to provide the best care they can whilst also looking after their staff. The support they give is essential for so many vulnerable people in our communities and in care homes, and without the care workforce our NHS would also not function properly.

“To have these additional temporary financial support measures will make a huge difference, and the positive impact of this is not only financial but also reinforces and acknowledges the vital contribution and value all our local care providers give, day in day out, and even more so during this uncertain time. Thank you to Shropshire Council for recognising and rewarding this.”