WIRRAL’S care home owners are preparing a legal challenge to plans by the council to freeze their fees and force them to re-tender for placements.

The Wirral Carehome Association (WCA) says its members are facing significant cuts, and many homes could shut after a secret council report recommended a second year of fee freezes.

The report to Wirral’s cabinet recommended nursing and care homes have their fees frozen this year and the homes be forced to re-tender for council contracts to care for people – including elderly and those with learning difficulties.

The authority says it pays “more for residential and nursing care than other local authorities in the North-West”.

The council’s ruling cabinet approved the plans and wrote to home owners informing them late last month.

A spokesman for the WCA said homes which had refused to accept changes in the past had not had new residents placed with them.

The authority has contracts with 274 nursing and residential homes, and says there are currently 411 vacancies in them – some 12%.

The WCA spokesman said the council was “going down the same path we went down last year” and they expect the council to tell them either they accept the new conditions or no residents would be placed with them. He said: “Our argument is we have an independent report which says they should pay more.”

Last year, care home owners in the borough formed the CWA and contributed towards legal advice, and the spokesman said: “We’re looking to do the same this year.”