NURSING and care homes in Wirral are warning of a legal challenge to council plans to reduce their fees.

Owners and managers fear the reduction could see homes across the borough closing as a result of the drop in their income.

After a huge outcry, Wirral council backtracked over proposals to reduce the money paid to homes by 5% – equivalent to between £18 and £22 a week.

The new recommendation, subsequently approved by the authority’s ruling cabinet, was that fees should effectively be “capped” during 2009/10, at around 98.7 % of the 2008/09 rate.

This would mean around 4% more being paid than had been originally proposed, but owners say the plans will still mean a cut in fees that would leave them out of pocket and could force homes to close. An attempt by Conservatives on Wirral council to overturn the plans to reduce fees was defeated after the cabinet decision was called in for review by a scrutiny committee.

Last night, a representative of Wirral Care Homes Association said nursing and care home owners remained deeply upset and angry at the council’s approach, and they were seeking legal advice to challenge the decision.

He said: “There has been no negotiation.

“If they had said we just can’t afford to pay these fees, can we discuss it, then we would have done that. But instead they just did it.”