Care homes and hospices looking at how to save money amid cost of living fears

'We will keep services open for older people but they will be impacted by the rising costs', Katherine Coggan from Age UK in Leicester says

The hospices and care homes which support our most vulnerable fear they may be most affected by the cost of living crisis.

They have to keep people warm and run life-saving machinery 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  

As the sector starts to recover from the effects of Covid, they now have to come to terms with price hikes and potential job losses. 

Katherine Coggan, who works for Age UK in Leicester, says they're having to look at ways to save money which is having an effect with employment.

She said: "We are having to look at efficiency savings which is actually impacting on redundancies, and also affecting transport costs, costs for food in our cafes.

"Age UK in Leicestershire and Rutland is the largest charity supporting older people in the area and there's thousands of people coming to us for help on a monthly and weekly basis and we will maintain services and we will keep services open for older people but they will be impacted by the rising costs."

Meanwhile, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: "I know things are difficult right now and I've always been honest with people that it's tough for me to fully protect everyone against the global challenges that we face."

He added: "But I do believe the tax plan that we'll announce tomorrow will make a significant difference to tens of millions of people cross our country, cutting fuel duty, putting more money in people's pockets with the changes to national insurance and an income tax to come, and more money for local councils to support those most in need.

"This government is on people's side at this difficult time."