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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/30/four-seasons-care-home-operator-on-brink-of-administration
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Four Seasons care home operator on brink of administration | Four Seasons care home operator on brink of administration |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Care homes operator Four Seasons, which looks after 17,000 elderly and vulnerable residents and employs 22,000 people, is on the verge of administration, with protracted financial rescue talks expected to end in failure. | |
| More than a year after complex financial talks began between its US hedge fund lender H/2 Capital and its former private equity owner, Guy Hands’ Terra Firma, Four Seasons Health Care is thought to be close to appointing administrators. | More than a year after complex financial talks began between its US hedge fund lender H/2 Capital and its former private equity owner, Guy Hands’ Terra Firma, Four Seasons Health Care is thought to be close to appointing administrators. |
| Professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal has been lined up to handle the administration, according to Sky News, potentially the biggest financial failure in the care homes sector since Southern Cross collapsed in 2011. | |
| The Guardian view on a new social care plan: too little, too late | Editorial | The Guardian view on a new social care plan: too little, too late | Editorial |
| Sources close to Four Seasons said the administration would allow the business to be sold and should not affect residents in the group’s 322 care homes. | Sources close to Four Seasons said the administration would allow the business to be sold and should not affect residents in the group’s 322 care homes. |
| Labour blamed funding cuts by the government for leaving 17,000 residents facing an “uncertain future”. | |
| Barbara Keeley MP, shadow minister for social care and mental health, said: “This is the inevitable consequence of years of underfunding by the Conservative government. | |
| “The cost of austerity cuts is now being carried by the 17,000 older people in Four Seasons care homes who face an uncertain future. | |
| “£7bn has been taken out of the social care system since 2010 and more providers will follow Four Seasons in the years and months to come unless social care is given the funding it needs as a matter of urgency. | |
| “While the government is paralysed by indecision on social care, Labour has a real plan to invest an extra £8bn in social care across a parliament, stabilising the system and ensuring that more people can receive the care they need.” | |
| The Care Quality Commission, which oversees provision of social care, said there was no immediate cause for alarm on the part of residents and their families. | |
| The CQC said it was “fully aware of today’s developments and will continue to closely monitor the position. | |
| “Our market oversight regulatory responsibility is to advise local authorities if we believe that there will be likely service cessation as a result of likely business failure. We do not believe this to be the case at this time. | |
| “We will continue to keep this under review and remain in regular contact with Four Seasons Health Care throughout this process.” | |
| Despite the assurances, the Guardian understands that there is no immediate prospect of a buyer for Four Seasons, although H/2 Capital Partners, which holds the majority of its debt pile of more than £500m, could bid for it. | |
| Private equity firm Terra Firma still owns the company’s equity but has effectively ceded control to H/2 and has no representatives on the Four Seasons board. | |
| The collapse will raise fresh questions about the financial health of Britain’s care home sector and the potential risks it poses to tens of thousands of residents. | |
| Figures released earlier this year showed that more than 100 care home operators collapsed in 2018, taking the total over five years to more than 400 and prompting warnings that patients in homes that close down could be left with nowhere to go but hospitals. | Figures released earlier this year showed that more than 100 care home operators collapsed in 2018, taking the total over five years to more than 400 and prompting warnings that patients in homes that close down could be left with nowhere to go but hospitals. |
| UK care home firms are buckling under the pressure of funding cuts, crippling debt and rising costs, according to accountancy firm BDO. | UK care home firms are buckling under the pressure of funding cuts, crippling debt and rising costs, according to accountancy firm BDO. |
| Social care | Social care |
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