MORE than half of Bradford's care homes and homecare services are failing key Government standards, a new report shows.

The national care watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), has revealed that 57 per cent of the homes and providers in the district inspected so far are either inadequate or require improvement.

The data suggests Bradford is faring far worse than average, with care representatives citing a lack of local funding as one of the main problems.

The CQC is about a third of the way through inspecting all nursing homes, residential homes and care providers in the district, and has now published its findings so far.

A CQC spokesman said most of the social care locations it has inspected countrywide so far have achieved a good rating since it introduced its new way of inspecting services based on five key questions: Is the service safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.

"Of those inspected to date most have a rating of Good, at approximately 65 per cent. Where people raise particular concerns with us, we are able to go and look at a service at any time if needed and should we find any risk to people using services we will not hesitate to use our regulatory powers to ensure their safety and wellbeing.”

Bradford Care Association chairman Konrad Czajka, who is also managing director of Czajka Care Group, said the district's poor ratings were likely to be the direct result of years of underfunding and financial uncertainty.

"Repeatedly the association has warned the council there is a serious crisis facing the care sector," said Mr Czajka.

"This crisis is a direct result of years of underfunding from the local authority and financial uncertainty. There's a direct correlation between fee levels and quality of provision. The council says that's not so but we say it is."

Mr Czajka said there are two sets of pressures, firstly recruiting and retaining staff on wages lower than the NHS and Bradford Council and secondly, the high dependency level needs, usually end of life, that their clients have when they come to the independent care sector.

"If our funding followed those dependency levels then that would be massively helpful. In other authority areas like North Yorkshire and Leeds they seem to take heed of these pressures but Bradford doesn't seem to do so,” he said.

"We are trying to recruit quality staff to provide quality care from the same pool as the NHS and Bradford Council who are able to pay better wages but how can we compete with that? In my own company this week we are losing three state registered nurses to the NHS.

"When the CQC's inspectors come in to do their inspections they see how the independent sector is struggling and that's probably one of the main reasons for those ratings."

He added: "Bradford Care Association is supporting our members to drive up their standards and to improve but the funding crisis is letting us down."

Councillor Ralph Berry, executive member responsible for social care at the Labour-run council, said it refused to place people in care homes which were not up to scratch.

"I have just had notification over the weekend that we have stopped using another provider because they have had negative CQC ratings," he said.

"We won't put people into places that have negative ratings. That would just be unacceptable."

Cllr Berry said on three occasions the council had also stepped in to replace care home managers after poor inspection reports with its own staff being put in place as interim managers.

He said the challenge was to get the care sector - much of which is run by private firms - working together to drive up standards, train staff and share good practice "in what would otherwise be a competitive sector" and praised a new training programme unveiled by Mr Czajka earlier this month which is aimed at doing that.

Councillor Jackie Whiteley, the Conservative group's spokesman for adult social care, said Bradford has been one of the lowest-paying authorities for social care but that a new precept being added to council tax bills could inject more cash into the sector locally.

She said: "The two per cent precept that George Osborne has suggested councils use for adult social care provides the opportunity for Bradford to rectify this situation and to help providers to raise standards and give older people in Bradford the care they want and deserve."

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, the Liberal Democrat group leader, accused the council of not fulfilling its duty to fund a high-quality adult social care system.

She said: "It really is a concern that the council is creating a market where there is effectively a race to the bottom."

Cllr Sunderland said she understood times were tough for local authorities, but social care for elderly and vulnerable people was its "core business".

She added: "It is clear there is a fundamental flaw in the provision of these services in Bradford and the council just rationing care is not the way out of it."

Ratings for three more Bradford adult social care providers were published by CQC yesterday.

Manningham-based Stonham Bradford, which helps people with learning disabilities and some with dementia to live independently in their own homes, needs to improve the way it is led and to make sure that information on people's medicines is complete and up to date.

Claire Blacka, business contracts manager at Home Group which runs the service, said it was rated good in three of the five inspection areas and no areas were deemed inadequate.

"Two areas ‘required improvement’ which we were aware of and already had protocols in place to address these issues when we were inspected," she said.

"The report states staff are kind, caring, treat people with dignity and respect and have the skills and knowledge to deliver safe and effective care. We enjoy an excellent relationship with the local authority.”

Yorkshire Housing Limited's Park View Road Home, near Lister Park, Manningham, got a good rating - thanks to improvements made since inspectors visited in July 2014. The home, which has up to ten residents with learning disabilities, has now appointed a registered manager and recruited its own staff reducing its need for agency workers.

Homecare agency Supported Living Service, run by West Bowling-based United Response, has also got a good rating from inspectors.