Campaign News
MORE THAN HALF OF SOUTHERN CROSS
CARE HOMES DUE TO BE TAKEN BACK BY
LANDLORDS ARE BASED OUTSIDE
THE UK MAINLY IN TAX
HAVENS
Government White Paper amounts to a dangerous
re-threading of the bald tyre that led to today's crash at Southern
Cross impacting on the care of 31,000 elderly and vulnerable
residents in private sector care
Southern Cross proposed
3000 redundancies and Terms & Conditions changes
Christopher
Fisher of Southern Cross interview with John Humphrys on the TODAY
Program on Monday 13th June
Jamie Buchan Chief Executive of Southern Cross told national
media on 20 May that if the company "does not reach
agreement with its landlords and lenders the group is unlikely to
be able to continue to trade."
So Southern Cross could
go under at anytime since the rents it pays on the homes is £100m
too high. If they do, the world of the 31,000 residents in their
care will be turned upside down. To say nothing of worlds of the
44,000 staff and the residents' families.
The residents, their
families and the staff in the 736 care
homes all over UK are living in a state of massive uncertainty.
No one should suffer this kind of worry, least of all the elderly
and the vulnerable: those least able to defend and protect
themselves.
Only the government and
politicians have the power now to end this uncertainty. Only the
politicians can answer the question who will look after the 31,000
elderly and vulnerable if Southern Cross goes under.
The 736 care
homes, run by Southern Cross, are not factories that are
failing from lack of demand but are an essential part of every
community which now face ruin due to the combination of
privatisation and private equity. Everyone knows, moving
the elderly and vulnerable is the worst thing that can happen to
them and can lead to premature death.
Below are reports which
list by region, county and by parliamentary constituency all the
Southern Cross care homes in the UK with an email link to the named
local MP.
You can help to end the
uncertainty in Southern Cross by demanding your MP takes action on
this.
Please E-mail your MP
using the link in the reports below . Encourage your family,
friends and work colleagues to help. The 31,000 elderly and
vulnerable residents need your help.
Reports listing Southern Cross care
homes in the UK. Use the email link to email the local
MP.
Helen Ewan
& Justin Bowden Speaking on Southern Cross at GMB Congress
2011
31,000 Elderly Residents In
Southern Cross Care Homes Face Being Made Homeless As GMB Calls For
QIA To Clear Up The Financial Mess Caused By Sky High Rents
If QIA can spend £1.5billion for a shop and
another £1.5billion for a football team it’s about time they paid
for their responsibilities for staff and residents at Southern
Cross and stopped avoiding taxes on much of the £248.3 million paid
in rent which ends up in off-shore tax havens.
Overcharging on rent amounts to £60 per week per care home
bed. The public funds involved was intended to be used to pay for
the care of the elderly in Southern Cross care homes. Instead these
funds are being used to pay the interest on £1,100m bonds raised by
the QIA when they bought the care home builidngs from a private
equity company in 2006. Taxes on this income are avoided as the
funds are funnelled via companies in the Isle of Man and the Caymen
Islands.
There are 744 Southern
Cross Care Homes
in the UK with a total of 38,124 care beds for the elderly
(September 2009).The published accounts for that period showed that
in 2009,Southern Cross paid £239.1m in rent to the owners of the
properties.
GMB research indicates that up to half of the
properties were acquired by a company called NHP, of
which the ultimate parent company is Delta Commercial Property.
This is a company owned by the Qatari Investment Authority and is
registered in the Isle of Man. The financial returns for this
company are consolidated within Libra No.2 Ltd, a company
incorporated and registered in the Cayman Islands.Southern Cross
rents paid to the homes acquired by QIA in 2009 equated to
£6,348 per bed. This was a 4.9% increase on the 2008 figure when
the rent was £6,050 per bed. This in turn was a 3.1% increase on
the 2007 figure when the rent per bed was £5,866. This in turn was
a 7.9% increase on the 2006 figure when the rent per bed was £5,435. Thus in the past 3 years rents have gone up
by 16.8% at a time when property values were falling.
GMB have told the councilors that use Southern
Cross to care for their clients, paid for with public money, that
if the beds were used for different purposes the market clearing
rents paid to the landlords would at least £100m less. If the
accommodation was used for students, for example, GMB conclude that
the total amount the landlords would receive is £121.8m.If the
space were made available for private residential use, GMB consider
that this would give rise to £139.5m in annual rental income.