* Mario Kreft MBE, chair of Care Forum Wales.
Campaigners are calling for a top level inquiry into the “eye-watering” £2 million a year fee a North Wales council is paying for the care of a disabled child.
It’s been revealed that Denbighshire Council shelled out £37,500 a week for the care of the child while they only pay £774 a week to fund residential care for an older person in the county.
The news has prompted social care champions Care Forum Wales to write to the Auditor General for Wales, Adrian Crompton, to investigate the £2 million bill for the child who has significant disabilities and complex behavioural needs and receives 24-hour specialist care.
They are concerned the huge bill represents inequality within a social care system where care providers looking after older and vulnerable people have to constantly battle for every penny they receive from local councils.
Care Forum Wales chair Mario Kreft MBE said: “There needs to be an inquiry into this, based on the inequality on how we fund older people’s services.
“I think the Auditor General who’s the head of Audit Wales needs to scrutinise this thoroughly with a proper inquiry so we can get to the bottom of this.
“And I think it’s about the court of public opinion as well, I think the public needs to understand what’s going on with this.
“Denbighshire are notoriously poor payers when it comes to funding adult social care. In fact, they are just about the lowest of the low.
“My question to the council would be have they done a cost of care review on this placement for this child, as they would for an older person, because none of us can get our heads around how it can possibly be £2 million a year.
“That figure is totally extraordinary, so you’re asking who signed it off and on what basis. How can that figure possibly be correct? It’s an eye-watering sum of money.
“The bigger question is the inequality around this, the imbalance in the system.
“It’s a council which wants to reduce fees all the time, always looking to penny-pinch.”
It was a message echoed by Thea Brain, North Wales Policy Advisor for Care Forum Wales.
She said: “My initial response to the £2 million figure was just shock. We want a breakdown of the costs, of what that £2 million comprises.
“We want to know who signed it off, and we also want to know if they conducted a cost of care exercise.
“There is an issue here of fiscal responsibility with the public purse.
“I’m very curious to know if this £2 million figure is like fag packet maths or if they have done a proper cost of care exercise.
“Care Forum Wales’s position on this is not that the child should not have that money spent on them, we don’t know what the situation is, and that’s why we are asking questions.
“We want to ensure the best possible care for everybody, whatever their age – whether it’s for children or older people.
“But we would say that if Denbighshire can see there’s a legitimate need there and spend the necessary money, they should also be doing it for adult social care.
“This comes down to equality, and how we look after our most vulnerable people, no matter their age.
“Care Forum Wales is the champion of the adult social care sector and we are here to advocate for the providers, their workforce and, most importantly, the recipients of adult social care.
“Part of that role is having an active role in the scrutiny of where other monies from the social care budget are being spent, because the area I safeguard is underfunded.
“I’m interested to know that if Denbighshire are doing proper cost of care exercises for children’s care, I would like to know why they are not doing it for adults.
“One thing we have consistently complained about with Denbighshire is that they have not undertaken a cost of care exercise with us on adult social care, unlike the local authority directly across the border in Conwy.
“Conwy did do a proper cost of care exercise using a recognised methodology and they arrived at a sensible figure for the cost of care and they put their fees up accordingly on the back of that exercise.”
Earlier this year, Care Forum Wales highlighted the discrepancy in fees Denbighshire County Council pays towards providing care in a care home compared to their neighbours in Conwy. The difference in fees is up to £7,000 a year per person.
Thea Brain said: “Some care providers will just accept it, and will try to cut their cloth to fit, and that’s a very dangerous game to play because you wind up making concessions on things and the quality of care can really suffer.
“It’s incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to deliver quality of care on what Denbighshire pay.”
Care Forum Wales and other organisations have warned of a funding crisis in the social care sector.
Bosses at the Anheddau charity recently warned support for 140 disabled people and the jobs of more than 400 staff in North Wales were under threat because of the funding crisis it faces.
According to the organisation, the funding provided by the county councils which commission Anheddau’s services does not come close to covering the costs of supporting its clients who have extensive support needs.
The problems facing Anheddau, which has its main office in Bangor, mirror the plight of another charity organisation, Cymryd Rhan, which was forced to fold in March this year.
A spokesman for Denbighshire County Council told North Wales Live: “All packages of care for children or young people in Denbighshire are reviewed in line with the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014 and associated codes of practice and regulations, with all packages of support signed off by the head of children's services, who bases their decision on the assessment of need presented by the case holding social worker.
“Every six weeks all high-cost children's placements are reviewed by our review panel, chaired by the head of children's services, with relevant service and team managers and (the) finance officer. The council has received a Freedom of Information request from Care Forum Wales on this particular case and will be responding with more detail through that formal process.”
The council spokesman said that the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014 placed a duty on local authorities to assess and meet the eligible needs of both children and their carers. He added: “The child in question has very complex needs which means that a high level of expert care is required in order to safeguard the child’s welfare. The authority cannot provide any further information as this will potentially identify the child concerned.”
The spokesman went on to explain that every council has different annual funding settlements from Welsh Government, without addressing the fact that Denbighshire has enjoyed the highest percentage rise in North Wales in 2024 and 2025 alone.
“Each local authority has a different funding settlement and therefore must strike a very delicate balance of navigating challenging financial constraints and ensuring that we are maintaining a sustainable future for the care sector in Denbighshire. The cost of this care package has had no bearing on the setting of care fees for care providers in adult services,” he said.
“In determining our care fees each year, we undertake a consultation with care providers and for 2025 / 2026 Denbighshire invested in Care Cubed (a recognised care fee methodology) along with most of the other local authorities in North Wales to ensure a consistent approach across the region. Every care home provider in Denbighshire is encouraged to discuss their care fees with the local authority and using Care Cubed will work out the cost of care and agree fees. Denbighshire currently funds approximately 382 placements across 85 care homes."
