A CHARITY has said it is being forced to try to evict severely disabled care home residents because of a deepening problem with the rising cost of care.

The Leonard Cheshire care charity says it can no longer afford to subsidise all the 3,000 people it currently supports in the UK, because of rising costs which local authorities are not prepared to meet.

A spokesman said council budgets are now at “breaking point” and that “funding being allocated to providers like us is sometimes simply not keeping pace with the real costs of care in many cases.”

The situation means the charity has sought to evict some vulnerable residents with complex disabilities, because council funders had refused to meet fee increases that reflected the rising costs of wages, energy and food.

About 12 of the charity’s residents nationally face eviction orders.

Linda Burnip, of Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), told the Star: “I appreciate they are going to have higher costs for their homes but to evict people is utterly disgraceful.

“There’s going to be a lot of smaller care homes in a similar position because of rising costs — it could be the beginning of a tsunami.”

A spokesman for Leonard Cheshire said: “Social care is a sector in crisis following years of chronic underfunding and the absence of meaningful long-term reform.

“Councils urgently need a cash injection from government to address soaring costs and pressures affecting every provider.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said it has made up to £7.5 billion available over the next two years to support adult social care services.