07/03/2017 Look East (West)

Arsenal in Europe. Natalie thank you very much again at the Emirates

Stadium. In Look East Tonight:

Counting the cost of care - the residential homes claiming

a higher living wage And a U-turn from Northamptonshire

police over controversial plans to move out of their old HQ to make

way for a new school. And I'll be here with your local

forecast, which remains a First tonight, a warning that a rise

to the national living wage could spell closure for several care

homes across the region. The chancellor is expected

to outline extra financial support for the care industry

in tomorrow's budget. But some residential home owners say

that won't be enough Another busy morning

at Langdon House in Cambridge, 51 people being cared for by up

to 30 staff covering three The home already pays them

above the living wage, many with people on up

to ?10 an hour. We invest in our staff,

we ask all of our staff to take a level two,

level three qualifications and our managers have level five

or degree qualifications, But Langdon House is in a more

privileged position than many care homes, 80% of its clients

are privately funded, Meaning, with careful budget

planning they can tackle the living wage rise in salaries head on,

or even ahead of time. There are care homes who have closed

nationally, over the years. And they will continue to close,

particularly small homes, it won't be viable for

them to continue. East Anglian law firm

Ashton's recently hosted They asked care home bosses

which would have more impact, Unexpectedly, two

thirds said the latter. The main worry is how much

councils will pay for care. The amount which local authorities

are able to pay is much lower than the rates

which private people pay. And, as wages are the biggest

components of fixed costs, anything which drives up costs

where revenue is falling, The students hoping to go into this

sector said better salaries would encourage more people

to do the same. Well, who doesn't like more money,

I suppose, but yeah, it sounds like a really good idea

and hopefully it will entice more With an ageing population,

the demand for care home places The fear is, if managers haven't

planned for the salary changes forecast for the next three years,

their businesses may not survive. Well, Mousumi Bakshi has been

taking a closer look at the story, and Mo just

what is the national living wage? Well it was introduced last year

for people over the age of 25, to better reflect the cost of living

for that age bracket. At the moment it stands

at ?7.20 an hour. That will rise to ?7.50

in April and by 2020, Now clearly these improved pay

rates will attract more A profession that is

struggling to recruit. The care home sector has

received a lot of bad press. There've have been undercover

reports showing abuse in a small number of homes,

and the pressures facing staff. The jobs may be rewarding

but they're tough so higher Well many care homes are run

by charities or nonprofit companies and thousands get funding

from local councils. That funding is being outstripped

by the sheer number of elderly It's not enough to cover the wage

bill and run a care home. So what we're likely to see is more

private care home places, or, as you heard in Anna's

report, potential closures. All eyes are on tomorrow's

budget where we expect the Chancellor to announce extra

social care funding. A round-up of those budget headlines

tomorrow on Look East. A young offenders centre in

Milton Keynes "requires improvement" according to a new

inspection report. Oakhill, which is run by G4S,

holds up to 80 boys aged between 12 and 18 who've been

sentenced or remanded to custody. The report uncovered rising levels

of violence, with over 200 assaults on staff and young people

in just six months last year. Just months after agreeing to sell

its Wootton Hall headquarters, Northamptonshire Police has

announced it's staying put. The deal was struck by the previous

Police and Crime Commissioner, Adam Simmonds, who agreed the sale

on his final day in the job. The force was supposed to move

into a new building, That will now be used

as an accommodation block. This was meant to be the site

of a new headquarters for Police and Fire Services in

Northamptonshire. Cherry Hall Road in Kettering

will still be built, Selling this site would have netted

the force ?3.4 million. The then Police and

Crime Commissioner, Adam Simmonds, who approved

the sale, said a modern police force A HQ that holds onto 400 people

who are not actually police officers, but back office

staff, isn't necessary. They can be in police stations,

they can be in other But ten months and one

new Police and Crime It's not fit for purpose,

it's not fit for purpose now. What the PCC now, Stephen Mold, has

said is he will invest in this site. That's an option that

wasn't available before. If we do nothing on this site

but leave it as it is, it will become even less fit

for purpose in the future. Good news for police staff though,

is bad news for Wootton Park School. The plan had been for it

to move into Wootton Hall That won't now happen,

meaning its students will continue to be taught in these temporary

classrooms while plans are drawn up for a new,

permanent home elsewhere A site which, ten months ago,

was remote and not fit for purpose will now be retained

and in some parts, rebuilt. Northamptonshire Police said that

overall the decision not to leave Wootton Hall will actually

save money in the long term. But questions remain over how much

has been spent on legal fees in pursuit of an ambitious move

which now won't happen. Well, earlier I spoke

to Northamptonshire's Police I began by asking him why he decided

to pull the plug on the deal It's the best thing

to do for the taxpayers of Northamptonshire,

it drives the best value, but also it's good for the staff

and provides them certainty And thankfully, with the great

work we've been doing with the education funding

authority, it means that actually we can keep the school

there and we can build on the bonds that were originally

conceived for the idea. But this is a complete U-turn

on what your predecessor Adam Simmonds had planned,

it's quite a bold move, isn't it? Well, it was kind of

a situation that I inherited. The deal was signed on the afternoon

after I was elected but before I took office, and quite frankly,

I was given some significant costs And really, given the challenge

of keeping people safe in Northamptonshire,

it's right that we do the right thing, but also we get

to keep the school as well. So are you saying that the sale

was the wrong decision Let's put it this way,

it's not a decision I would have made had I been the Police

and Crime Commissioner at that time, otherwise we would not have made

the decision we have got now And what about the financial

implications here? How much money has already been

spent that could have been saved? To be honest, yes, there has been

some money that has been spent, But actually it is the human cost

that worries me more because actually we've created

uncertainty for police staff, it's But some money has already

been sent hasn't it, But some money has already

been spent hasn't it, that the site in Kettering,

the development is underway? The Kettering site, the original

concept for the site in Kettering was actually to bring together some

of that, you know we have Corby police station,

some of those site there, the cells at Corby police station

are not fit for purpose. So literally, the original concept

was to actually deliver that. We can now, if you like, return it

to its original core purpose, will still be using that,

we have 36 buildings across We want to make sure we bring that

down and bring our people together A scheme to reduce congestion at one

of the region's busiest road junctions has been put

to public consultation. The Black Cat roundabout

near St Neots is a notorious The plans include improving

the junction with the A1, and dualling the A428

towards Cambridge. The Government says updating

transport links will bring economic We'll be back with our

Breakfast bulletins But there's just time to leave

you with the forecast, here's Julie. Outbreaks of rain spreading

eastwards during tonight, some of that rain is likely to be

on the heavy side and it's one of those strange nights

where temperatures are actually going to rise later on,

back to around eight Tomorrow's weather is very dependent

on this weather front which will develop a bit of a way,

so it's been quite difficult to tell exactly how quickly

it's going to pull away. But it does look like a cloudy

start to the day tomorrow Eventually we will probably see

a bit of brightness and sunshine But even where we've got

the cloud and the rain, temperatures around 11 Celsius

and they may even get a few degrees higher where we get

the best of any sunshine And we finish the day hopefully

with the last of that rain eventually clearing away

to the east. In a moment, the national forecast,

but I'll leave you with the outlook and after a damp start to Thursday,

it should be largely fine and dry with hopefully a bit

of brightness and sunshine. Friday morning, cloud around

with some outbreaks of light rain and drizzle and then some wet

and windy weather for Then we should see some spells

of sunshine developing. rain on Saturday. The national

picture now from Nick Miller. It looks like next week high

pressure will become a player again in our weather, settling things down

for some of us for a time but until then it is low-pressure, rain moving

across the UK overnight but not wet all the time. Many of us at a fine

day today, this was at you from West Yorkshire and Yorkshire and northern

England and Northern Ireland will farewell tomorrow, after this

frontal system has pushed on through the UK