One of Britain’s largest care home providers has written to staff to warn that leaving the EU is like writing a blank cheque to a housebuilder with no planning permission, survey or stable foundations.
Chai Patel, the executive chairman of HC-One, said the company would not presume to tell its 14,000 staff how to vote but it had a duty to warn of the risks posed by Brexit to “the care we deliver, the livelihoods of our colleagues and the company’s future”.
HC-One, which runs hundreds of homes for the elderly, highlighted the UK’s nursing shortage and need for carers, housekeepers and catering staff in recent times.
“HC-One has relied on the work of colleagues from around the world, including Europe, to provide the kind and professional services we are proud of,” Patel said.
“The care sector has gone through a period of very serious reduction in local authority spending. Britain leaving the EU could have a profound effect on our national economy and in turn on public spending. The care sector would struggle to absorb another cut in spending.”
In his letter, Patel quoted a friend who likened leaving the EU to writing a blank cheque to a housebuilder with “no survey, no assessment of risks, no foundations, no clear arrangements for completion and no national house building guarantee”.
It comes as Labour warned that a Brexit vote could lead to “deeper cuts to social care” and leave thousands of vulnerable people without vital care and support.
Heidi Alexander, the shadow health secretary, said the social care system was already on its knees because of years of underfunding by the Conservatives but things would only get worse if the UK leaves the EU.
A new analysis published by Labour found that funding for councils could be cut by more than £500m by the end of the decade in the event of a vote to leave the EU.
“In the worst-case scenario, the government would have to cut council budgets by more than half a billion pounds if it were to stick to its pledge of balancing the books by the end of the decade,” Alexander said.
“These are cuts that could hit some of the most vulnerable in our society and leave thousands of people without the care and support they desperately need.
“Thursday’s vote is more than just about our membership to the European Union. It’s about protecting the people who rely on our public services from even deeper cuts under this Tory government.”
She said a Brexit vote would also lead to huge uncertainty about the future of the 60,000 European nationals working in the country’s care sector who provide care and support for older people towards the end of their lives.
Labour also warned that leaving the EU would harm funding for Britain’s young people as about £350m a year of cash from Brussels goes towards helping them into work.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, a shadow employment minister, said at a time when 865,000 16- to 24-year-olds are not in education, employment or training (NEET) and the government are slashing support for the long-term unemployed, Britain cannot afford to lose the billions of pounds of European money that funds schemes.
However, Labour MPs fighting to leave the EU claimed on Tuesday that austerity measures could have been avoided if the UK had kept the £350m a week that is sent to Brussels – before accounting for the rebate.
Gisela Stuart, Kate Hoey, John Mann and Graham Stringer argued the UK could have avoided “the hated bedroom tax, cuts to adult social services, cuts to the NHS child and adolescent mental health services, cuts to flood defences, cuts to legal aid and cuts to public libraries”.
“Two-thirds of George Osborne and David Cameron’s austerity cuts could have been avoided if we had been able to keep the money we give to the EU and spend it at home instead,” they said in a joint statement.
- This article was amended on 27 June 2016 to clarify that Chai Patel was quoting a friend in his letter to staff when he said leaving the EU was like writing a blank cheque to a housebuilder with no planning permission.
