The landlords of troubled care home company, Southern Cross, have come to an agreement with the struggling care provider which should secure the future of its 31,000 vulnerable residents.
In all, 80 landlords, with property covered by landlord insurance and leased to Southern Cross, sat on the committee that earlier this week decided to split the business up in attempt to keep the homes going. Yesterday’s meeting between representatives of the landlords, Southern Cross, Banks and the Department of Health ended with a statement saying that they would all be working towards “a consensual solution” over the next 4 months.
It is thought that Southern Cross will still handle the day to day running of the business over the agreed period while a restructuring committee wrestle with the problems of sorting out the financial mess. It does seem however, that Southern Cross will have got its way to a certain extent and persuaded landlords they must take a cut in their rents although nowhere near the 30% cut Southern Cross were looking for. For those landlords that are actually care home providers themselves it is anticipated that they may in fact take over the homes once the restructuring has been completed.
In all up to 3,000 care workers are expected to lose their jobs, although where and when the jobs will go is still unclear as union bosses were not invited to the meeting. The charity Age UK said the residents and their relatives had been alarmed by the situation and demanded that: “In future, we would like to see all home care providers having to demonstrate to regulators a solid business model. Without this they should not be able to run care homes. The sector would benefit from greater transparency.”