HC-One has cited “exceptional times” after recording a £6.1 million operating loss for the year ending 30 September 2022.

In its consolidated group accounts, the group posted underlying EBITDA before exceptional costs of £63.1 million compared with £ 58.6 million in the year earlier.

Key performance indicators for the care home operator included:

• Average occupancy up by 1.8 percentage points to 80.5%
• Self-pay occupancy up by 0.7 percentage points to 23.2%
• Average weekly fees up by 7.8 percentage points to £854
• Weekly payroll costs per resident up 2.1 percentage points to £590
• Home EBITDAR down by 2 percentage points to 16.5%
• Underlying home EBITDAR per occupied bed down by 5.6% to £5,950.

A spokesperson for HC-One said: “As The Kind Care Company, our aim is to be the first-choice provider for those we care for, their families, colleagues and commissioners. We are working hard to invest to meet the evolving needs of the communities we serve, and to ensure our care teams are better rewarded for their skill and dedication.

“Our accounts demonstrate that we are making good progress on delivering on our strategy, investing at unprecedented scale into local authority facing services with the support of our shareholders. Our £92 million refurbishment and upgrade programme across some 200 of our homes is the largest ever care home upgrade programme in the NHS and local authority funded care home sector, and will ensure that our residents and colleagues can live and work in more specialised, comfortable homes, fitter for the more complex care needs of the future.

“We were proud to have raised the average rate of pay by over 10% for our care colleagues in the past year. We also introduced new sector-leading career pathways that can support colleagues to become a home manager, or a registered nursing associate or registered nurse through an apprenticeship programme, building on our previously award-winning learning and development offering. Amongst critical sector-wide workforce pressures, we are supporting people across the UK to begin and develop their career in care.

“Coupled with rising inflation, sustained pressure on local authority fee rates, and the lasting effects of the pandemic, these are exceptional times for all providers – and we are not immune to this. However, we remain fully funded and we are able to continue investing and striving to make sure that everyone who lives and works in our homes can lead their best lives.”