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Struggling care provider has contracts with several housing associations
Housing associations could have to find a replacement care provider if troubled Allied Healthcare is unable to continue, industry sources have told Inside Housing.
The regulator of health and social care services, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), warned on Monday that Allied may not have the funding to continue to operate beyond 30 November.
It said it has written to 84 local authorities warning them that services may be disrupted and they need to form a plan for providing alternative services.
Allied said it was “surprised and deeply disappointed” by the CQC judgement, saying its business is “sustainable” and that there was no risk to care services.
Allied provides care services to more than 13,000 people across the UK. Its main business is providing care for people in their own homes, but Inside Housing understands it does also have a number contracts on extra care schemes that they deliver in partnership with housing associations.
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Andrea Sutcliffe, chief inspector of adult social care at the CQC, said: “We have not received adequate assurance that the company has, or will have, the ongoing funding or new investment necessary to ensure the business can operate beyond [30 November].”
She added that the CQC believes there is a “credible risk of service disruption”.
If Allied is unable to provide care services after this, housing associations will need to work with local authorities to make sure someone is providing care to vulnerable residents.
Michael Voges, executive director of the Associated Retirement Community Operators, told Inside Housing: “Funding for domiciliary care in extra care housing has been under pressure for a number of years now. The Allied Healthcare case shows that the crisis in local-authority funded domiciliary care has reached a tipping point.
“This underlines a clear trend of general needs housing associations retreating from the new-build extra care market, with expansion mainly driven by specialist providers or those with in-house care provision.”
A spokesperson for Allied Healthcare said: “We are surprised and deeply disappointed by CQC’s decision, which we regard as premature and unwarranted.
“We have demonstrated throughout our discussions with the regulator that Allied Healthcare’s operations are sustainable and safe, that we have secured a potential replacement of our credit facility, that there is no risk to continuity of care and that we have a long-term business plan in place that will continue to deliver quality care across the UK.”
Inside Housing understands that Allied has an offer from a lender on the table.
