Council criticised over plan to sell 20 care homes

The sale of 20 care homes and a council-owned care firm to a private company "amounts to asset-stripping", according to a local councillor.

Norfolk County Council said if the sale to Stow Healthcare does go ahead, residents currently living in the homes would stay in them.

The Conservative-run council has been looking for other parties to take over its care homes to secure extra investment.

But Labour's Steve Morphew called the proposals a "scandal" and accused the authority of mismanaging its care services.

The authority's deputy leader, Andrew Jamieson, said "detailed work" would take place before any deal was finalised.

The council also said it had yet to agree on a price for any sale.

Last year, the council began the search for providers to take on the care homes as its contract with Norse Care – a private firm it owns – was coming to an end.

At the time, it said work to modernise the homes had stalled because of rising interest rates, and so it was seeking external investment.

Jamieson said "following a rigorous process", Stow Healthcare was the "front runner".

Based in Suffolk, the firm was recently taken over by US company CGEN Care.

Under the deal being discussed with the council, Stow would take on 20 care homes – including three which had been closed – as well as Norse Care.

Residents would remain in their homes while current staff would be transferred over.

"My aim has always been to transform and modernise our care homes," said Jamieson.

He added that if a sale was agreed, "we will do further detailed work, including consultation of residents, before any final agreement is reached".

But Morphew, the Labour group leader, said Norse had been "run down" since 2019 and was "a failing shadow of its former glory through mismanagement".

Describing the situation as a "scandal", he warned the homes could end up being run primarily for profit.

"With local government reorganisation, this also amounts to asset stripping and removing the option for in-house residential care homes from new unitary councils," he said.

Liberal Democrat group leader Brian Watkins said the uncertainty over the future of Norse and the care homes had "caused a great deal of anxiety and distress to many care home residents".

"The council has been far too slow in providing suitable assurances about their future," he said.

The council's cabinet is due to discuss the proposals on Monday.

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