North Wales Care Providers Demand Delay in Council Care Contract 2026

Key Points

• Action group formed by care home operators in North Wales is fighting against the new North Wales Pre-Placement Agreement.
• The care home operators argue that some of the local authorities are employing bullying tactics and the Pre-Placement Agreement is biased towards the councils and the health board.
• It is argued that the 90-page agreement was produced just days before December early deadlines for the signing process.
• Providers want the deadline to be extended by six months so that it can be implemented from 1 April 2014, the start of the new financial year.
• According to the group, the contract does not give any guarantee of equitable and sustainable fees and no system of an annual review process of fees.
• Some care home operators are pointing out at North-South Wales fees disparity, with some of the South East Wales care homes earning up to £17,000 more per resident annually than equivalent publicly funded care homes in North Wales.
• North Wales Regional Partnership Board argues that it has engaged with Care Forum Wales and revised the agreement in September. It will also take into account any feedback provided during eight weeks of consultation.

Wales (Wales Times) November 03, 2026 — Care home operators say some North Wales councils are using “bullying tactics” in a dispute over a proposed regional contract that they argue could weaken independent care and nursing homes. As reported by North Wales Live’s Daily Post, providers have formed the North Wales Pre-Placement Action Group to oppose the agreement, which is being led by Denbighshire County Council on behalf of the North Wales Regional Partnership Board.

What Are Care Home Operators Alleging?

The operators claim the proposed Pre-Placement Agreement is weighted towards public bodies and does not provide sufficient protection for independent care and nursing homes. They say it fails to guarantee “fair and sustainable” fees, lacks a transparent method for calculating payments, and does not ensure annual increases that reflect providers’ rising costs.

According to the action group, providers have been asked to sign a complex, 90-page document by early December, despite receiving it only a few weeks earlier. The group is calling for a six-month extension to examine the terms and for implementation to be postponed until 1 April, when the new financial year begins.

Kevin Jones, regional manager of Vshans Care, which operates five homes in Conwy, said residents were being “badly short-changed” by what he described as a “totally flawed” document. As reported by Daily Post, he argued that the absence of a clear fee methodology and guaranteed annual increases could affect providers’ ability to maintain standards and invest in their homes.

“We need time to ensure the agreement is robust enough and that it’s meeting the needs of the independent providers and that it is giving us safety and security to carry on what we are doing looking after the vulnerable, elderly population of North Wales,” Mr Jones said.

He added that feeling among providers was “immensely strong” and warned that failing to challenge the agreement would let down vulnerable people at the centre of the sector’s work.

Why Are Providers Calling for a Delay?

The operators say the timetable is too short for a document of this scale, particularly during a period when care providers are managing winter pressures and hospitals face increased demand. Kevin Edwards, managing director of Meddyg Care, which has homes in Criccieth, Porthmadog and Rhyl as well as a domiciliary care company in Gwynedd, said the agreement was being advanced with “indecent haste”.

“They are trying to push it through with indecent haste at the worst time of the year, in December, when providers are busy and hospitals are struggling because of winter pressures,” Mr Edwards told Daily Post.

He warned that, without an agreement in place, providers may have no basis to accept placements, with potential consequences for the wider health and social care system. Mr Edwards also said there was “a tremendous amount of anger” among providers who did not accept what he called “bullying tactics by some local authorities”.

The action group says its formation was also driven by a widening North–South divide in care home fees. It claims some care homes in South East Wales receive up to £17,000 more per resident per year than comparable North Wales homes for the same level of publicly funded care, despite both being subject to the same regulations.

What Do Individual Providers Say?

Ceri Roberts, a director of Cariad Care, which runs two homes in Porthmadog and Criccieth, said efforts to introduce a Pre-Placement Agreement had continued for 15 years. She told Daily Post that the current proposal was “very much biased towards the local authorities and the health board” rather than providers.

“If we have a Pre Placement Agreement in place that is fair to all parties then that is a good thing for everybody because, importantly, a fair agreement will provide protection for the people for whom we provide care,” Ms Roberts said.

Steffan Robbins, managing director of Orme View Residential and Dementia Care Home in Llandudno, said the contract was “fundamentally flawed”. He said fair and sustainable fees were essential to protect care provision for future generations.

Mr Robbins said the proposed agreement did not give enough clarity on how fees would be reviewed annually to reflect the actual cost of delivering care. He referred to the National Framework for the Commissioning of Care and Support in Wales, saying it required commissioners to understand care costs, work collaboratively with providers, follow transparent processes and include mechanisms to account for inflation.

“There is nothing wrong with a regional approach, provided it properly considers the different circumstances and costs of delivering care across individual services,” Mr Robbins said.

He warned that unrealistic fees were unsustainable and that financial pressures had already contributed to care home closures in North Wales. Mr Robbins said further reductions in capacity could occur at a time when demand was increasing.

What Does the Regional Partnership Board Say?

A spokesperson for the North Wales Regional Partnership Board said the board had “always embraced an open dialogue” with Care Forum Wales, which had been involved in developing the new agreement over recent years.

The spokesperson said significant work had been carried out to address issues previously raised by Care Forum Wales, and that these were reflected in a revised Pre-Placement Agreement sent to providers in September.

“The implementation of a new Pre-Placement Agreement for all Care Homes in North Wales does not affect the annual care fee setting process that the Local Authorities and Health Boards are required to complete in line with statutory guidance,” the spokesperson said.

The board said it had welcomed feedback from providers over the previous eight weeks and would take the comments into account when the engagement period closed.

What Is a Pre-Placement Agreement?

A Pre-Placement Agreement sets out the arrangements between commissioners and care home providers before a resident is placed in a home. Audit Wales has previously described such agreements as covering matters including registration requirements, quality monitoring, payment processes and payments after death.

In a 2021 report on commissioning older people’s care home placements, Audit Wales said North Wales was developing a new Pre-Placement Agreement and had extended existing arrangements where they were in place. The auditor also warned that inconsistent use of agreements and service specifications could create risks for service users, particularly where disputes arose.

Audit Wales said the previous commissioning approach could cause tension between partners and result in poor value and a poor experience for service users. It recommended that North Wales councils and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board ensure consistent use of Pre-Placement Agreements across the region.

How Does the Fee Dispute Fit In?

The current dispute forms part of a longer-running concern among Welsh care providers about local variation in publicly funded care home fees. In 2024, the BBC reported that Care Forum Wales had called for uniform payment rates across Welsh local authorities, describing differences between councils as a “postcode lottery”.

The BBC reported that basic care fees in Conwy were £846 a week, compared with £774 in Denbighshire, and that some providers said low fees forced them to charge residents top-up payments. The Welsh Government said at the time that its National Office for Care and Support was examining ways to achieve greater consistency, while noting that fees would continue to vary because of local factors such as land values.

Earlier reporting by Nation.Cymru in 2023 said Care Forum Wales data showed all six North Wales local authorities at the bottom of a residential care fee table, with providers warning that low fees and rising costs could lead to closures.

In 2024, the North Wales Pioneer reported that Conwy County Borough Council planned care home fee increases of up to 20% after warnings about financial pressures and closures, while Denbighshire was budgeting for smaller increases of about 8%. The report said Care Forum Wales argued that the difference could amount to £9,224 less per person annually in Denbighshire for the same level of nursing care.

Background of the Development

The North Wales Pre-Placement Agreement has been under development for several years and is intended to standardise arrangements between the region’s councils, health bodies and independent care providers. Audit Wales previously identified the need for consistent agreements across North Wales, warning that disputes or missing agreements could affect residents’ placements.

Care Forum Wales, the representative body for care providers in Wales, has long campaigned for fees that reflect the actual cost of care. Its chair, Mario Kreft MBE, has previously described a “gaping North-South divide” in Welsh care home fees and called for a national approach to end what the organisation describes as a postcode lottery.

The latest dispute follows earlier tensions between providers and councils over fee levels, fee-setting methods and individual payment claims. In September 2026, Daily Post reported that Meddyg Care’s Kevin Edwards was in dispute with Denbighshire County Council over an alleged £30,000 care fees claim; the council said it strongly refuted the allegations and said the matter remained subject to pre-action correspondence and potential legal proceedings.

Prediction: How Could This Affect Older People and Families?

For older people and their families in North Wales, the immediate effect depends on whether commissioners and providers reach agreement before the proposed December deadline. If providers delay signing or decline placements, Mr Edwards has warned that there could be a knock-on effect across health and social care, potentially increasing pressure on hospitals during winter.

If the concerns about fee sustainability are not resolved, operators fear further pressure on care home capacity. Mr Robbins said North Wales had already seen closures linked partly to financial pressures, and warned that reduced capacity could coincide with rising demand for care.

For families, a prolonged dispute could mean greater uncertainty over placement availability, fees and the continuity of care. The providers’ central argument is that a fairer agreement would protect residents by helping homes remain financially viable; the board’s position is that the agreement does not alter the statutory annual fee-setting process and that provider feedback will be considered before the engagement period closes.