Directors defend costs

Social work directors have attacked a Scottish Office claim that
residential care in the independent sector costs ‘substantially
less’ than in local authority homes.

Scottish health minister Lord James Douglas-Hamilton was
commenting on statistics which showed the average weekly charge in
local authority homes was £300 compared with £230 in
private and voluntary homes.

Andrew Reid, community care spokesperson for the Association of
Directors of Social work, claimed it was ‘misleading’ to quote the
two figures.