COUNCILS are buying vital home help for elderly people on the cheap, the firms providing care say.

Thousands of vulnerable older people rely on councils to organise support for them for daily tasks such as washing, dressing and feeding. But research by the UK Homecare Association found only one in seven was paying a fair price for care.

It said this meant visits were being cut short, but councils said they had insufficient money to pay more. In Blackburn with Darwen, the council forks out an average of £13.95 per hour for homecare across 7,540 hours over the course of a week. That is an increase of £2.91 per hour from 2016, when it was paying an average of £11.04 per hour.

The average price for north west councils is £14.60 per hour. UKHCA’s minimum price for Homecare is £18.01 per hour. The association calculates that the homecare sector needs at least £402million per year to ensure that homecare workers receive the National Living Wage, while also ensuring that homecare providers can meet statutory obligations.

But the size of the deficit this year would be £921m if government and local councils were to commit to raising the status of the homecare workforce to at least the Real Living Wage.

Report author Colin Angel said: “Rates paid by the majority of authorities do not cover adequate wages for our vital homecare workforce and the costs of running safe and effective services.

“These rates also illustrate why homecare providers are increasingly left with no choice but to refuse to take on, or hand back, care to authorities.

“State-funded homecare is also being rationed by councils in a way which leaves many older and disabled people without the support they need to remain independent. The governments of each of the four UK nations need to look at our findings and fund care properly. Continuing to muddle-on as they have done for a decade is not sustainable.”

Blackburn with Darwen Council’s director of social care, Sayyed Osman, said: “Agreed social care is under-funded and key workers should be paid properly. Is the squeeze from operators rather than councils? Is it about profitability?”