Crisis in Care: Follow the Money
CUSP research into predatory financial practices in the adult social care sector informing BBC Panorama investigation
December 2021
BBC Panorama have worked extensively with CUSP researcher Christine Corlet Walker and CUSP fellow Vivek Kotecha during their investigation into the use of predatory financial practices in the adult social care sector, as part of the documentary: “Crisis in Care: Follow the Money”, first aired on Monday 6 December 2021 on BBC One.
The Panorama team reveal the stories unfolding within financialised care homes, drawing on research conducted by CUSP and others to explore the extent and impacts of financialisation on family finances and quality of care in the sector.
The reportage showcases how the involvement of private equity firms and hedge funds in adult social care has put pressure on the sector to grow its revenues, not to improve quality of care but to meet exorbitant costs associated with complex corporate group structures, high debt burdens, and offshoring of profits. It exposes how one sixth of the weekly fee for a residential bed can go towards interest payments on company debt that had intentionally been accrued during previous sell-ons to generate profit for shareholders.
The documentary was released ahead of the second reading of the UK’s Health and Care Bill on Tuesday 7 December. Coinciding with the Panorama investigation, CUSP produced a briefing to propose three ways in which the Health and Care Bill should be amended to tackle these harmful impacts of financialisation in the care home sector.
An Early Day Motion was tabled by APPG on the Limits to Growth‘s vice chair Clive Lewis MP, to call on the Government to address the predatory financial practices by amending the Health and Care Bill to prevent financial assistance being mis-used. Co-sponsors of the motion are Caroline Lucas MP, Dan Carden MP, Kate Hollern MP, Kim Johnson MP and Jim Shannon MP.
