The report found that care services with high star ratings spend up to 20% more on staff and their training, development and management, as well as putting service users at the centre of everything they do. Not-for-profit providers consistently get better quality ratings.

Investing in staff and leadership is the key to delivering quality care for older and disabled people, according to new research published today (Monday, 9 November 2009).

Care services with high star ratings spend up to 20% more on staff and their training, development and management, as well as putting service users at the centre of everything they do. Not-for-profit providers consistently get better quality ratings.

The research report, The real cost of quality care and support, is published by the National Care Forum and Counsel and Care as a response to the green paper on the future funding of care. The two organisations say that more resources are needed to fund better quality care.

Some local authorities pay residential care providers as little as £315 a week for a place in a care home which is insufficient to deliver quality care as providers face rising costs. Some providers are able to spend three times as much on meals for residents as others.

Read the full press release, click here