CARERS have won their fight to secure more cash for York care homes - but warned that more investment is urgently needed.

Some carers threatened not to renew their contracts after City of York Council offered to increase the fees paid to care homes and home care by 1.5 per cent in March.

Now the council has pledged an extra four per cent, plus £300,000 for care homes to close the gap between fees paid for new placements and existing residents.

Independent Care Group (ICG) chairman Mike Padgham, said some care homes could have closed without the extra funding.

"The money is a step in the right direction and it's put us on the path towards making improvements," he said.

"Without the increase, it would have been very difficult to continue to deliver the same services, as year-on-year standards are higher and the number of people needing care is growing.

"Councils need to be funded more by the government as both sides say they are doing what they can and the carers are stuck in the middle.

"Funding for vulnerable people needs to be higher up on the list of government priorities."

York and North Yorkshire has seen a spate of care home closures in the last three years - with owners blaming low fees paid by local authorities.

In York, Laurens Manor and Burton Croft were casualties, while Wilberforce Lodge, in Pocklington, and Blair Atholl, in Haxby, also closed their doors.

Costs are paid in full or in part by the council when people cannot fund their own care needs.

In York, about 50 per cent of care in specialist homes comes from independent providers.

Mr Padgham said: "We are aware that not all care homes will benefit from the extra money and we will not neglect their concerns, but we hope it will make a difference to those with a number of longer-term residents where there has been serious under-funding."

A council spokeswoman said: "The council has always said it would review the overall fee income for providers for this year once the picture was clearer in terms of all the cost pressures on the social services budget.

"It was very helpful to work with the Independent Care Group to discuss the most effective way of packaging additional investment so that it has the most impact on providers. We hope providers will see this as a positive sign that the council is listening to their concerns and that we want to work in partnership with them to ensure the best possible standard of care in York."

Updated: 09:47 Thursday, May 27, 2004