SENIOR councillors have been accused of secrecy for planning to meet behind closed doors to look again at “unfair and irresponsibly low” care home fees.

According to Mario Kreft, the chair of Care Forum Wales (CFW), the leader of Denbighshire County Council, Cllr Jason McLellan, and his fellow cabinet members should resign if they don’t do the right thing.

Five councillors, not part of the cabinet, succeeded in “calling in” a decision that saw Denbighshire paying lower care home fees than other local North Wales authorities like Gwynedd and Anglesey.

The five councillors calling in the decision were Merfyn Parry, Mark Young, Chris Evans, Huw Hilditch Roberts, and Bobby Feeley.

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Their motion said they were requesting “that cabinet reconsiders its decision on 13 December 2022 to accept the recommendations of the fees group, given that both Gwynedd and Ynys Môn are recommending to pay care providers considerably more”.

In an unusual development, the issue will be considered by Denbighshire’s communities scrutiny committee on Thursday (January 19).

The committee will decide whether the matter should be referred back to cabinet – with a view to fees being substantially increased. But CFW is concerned the discussion is due to be conducted in private, meaning the press and public will be excluded.

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CFW has been campaigning for local authorities and health boards to pay fair fees, reflecting the actual cost of providing care, arguing “inadequate rates” discriminate against people with dementia. Mr Kreft said: “I welcome the fact that the matter is going before the communities and scrutiny committee, but it is shameful that they are attempting to cloak the debate in a shroud of secrecy.

“Instead of hiding behind closed doors, the discussion should take place in an open and transparent way. There is no credible commercial reason why the report about this matter should be considered in private, but it’s clear that senior figures on the council, including the leader, Cllr Jason McLellan, want to avoid proper scrutiny by the public of Denbighshire and the press. It’s shameful. What have they got to hide?

“All this will be utterly meaningless unless Denbighshire’s cabinet reverses this contemptible betrayal of vulnerable people and finally decides to pay fair fees that enable care homes to provide sustainable care and to reward hard-working, dedicated front-line staff with better wages.” He added: “If Denbighshire fails to do the right thing this time, the cabinet should resign en bloc and hang their heads in shame because this is discrimination against people with dementia who don’t have a voice.

“I understand certain individuals have personal political ambitions, but hiding behind a veil of secrecy is totally unacceptable when the likely result is going to put further financial pressure with a stealth tax on loving families.”

Mr Kreft has previously accused Denbighshire of trying to “defend the indefensible” over care home fees.

A spokesman for Denbighshire County Council said: “Cabinet considered a report regarding the recommendations of the North Wales Regional Fees Group for 2023/24, Residential and Nursing Home fees at its meeting in December 2022. Cabinet accepted all the recommendations of the Fees Group as set out within that report.

“That decision has now been ‘called in’ which is a normal part of the democratic process. It is appropriate that at this stage of the process that those discussions be held in private as the report contains sensitive information. Scrutiny will consider the reason given for the ‘call in’ at its meeting next week.”