THE true cost of looking after elderly residents is about £100 more than North-East care home owners are currently paid, according to a report.

Home owners have for some time claimed that fees do not match the real costs of caring for elderly people in their care.

Now, a report by accountants KPMG, commissioned by the Care North-East group of independent home owners, has confirmed a yawning gap between fees paid and costs incurred.

The report is based on information provided by 22 homes in the region.

KPMG calculated that the average cost of care per bed, from April 1, this year, will be £329 for residential homes and £447 for nursing care.

This contrasts with local authority fee rates across the region of between £230 and £272 (according to level of dependency) for residential care, and £345 to £365 for nursing home care.

Mark McArdle, chairman of Care North-East, said the low fee rates paid by local authorities were "putting home owners in an untenable position whereby they cannot comply with the new national minimum standards".

Mr McArdle said home owners were only asking local authorities to pay a reasonable rate.

"This report has highlighted that the current payment falls considerably short. The Government has obviously recognised that the best course of action is to support the care homes by providing extra funds, and we would now like to see these provisions passed on to the care providers to allow us to rebuild the damage already done to our industry."

Without these extra funds Mr McArdle predicted there would be more home closures.

Colin Morris, director of social services for Darlington Borough Council, said: "Local authorities are now having to make difficult decisions - whether to focus more of their resources on fewer people or spread the money thinly to cater for more."