Anchor’s surplus halves as care staff shortages drive up costs

The staffing crisis in the country’s care sector has partly been attributed to workers leaving for better-paid jobs in less stressful environments. 

In the year, Anchor handed its workforce, apart from its “senior leaders”, a one-off cost of living payment of £500. It has also committed to pay the Real Living Wage. 

Anchor also said that the war in Ukraine and last year’s Mini Budget had an impact. 

“These factors have compounded the long-term adverse economic effects of the UK’s exit from the European Union, and we have felt the impact of the latter in our labour supply chains in particular,” the group’s annual report said.

Anchor also booked a £3.5m amortisation charge against the goodwill arising from its £59m acquisition of Halcyon Care Homes’ business last year. 

However the deal for Halcyon’s 11 care homes helped Anchor’s group turnover to rise 6% to £555.5m. Halcyon’s operations contributed £12m in revenue in the financial year. 

The acquisition of Halycon also increased Anchor’s gearing to 28.5%, but the group flagged that this figure remains “very low”.

Net debt, excluding finance lease obligations, at year end was £514.4m compared to £418m in 2022. It has £185.6m in undrawn loan facilities, down from £235.6m last year. 

Meanwhile, Anchor revealed that it spent £76m on improving its properties, up from £66.3m the year before.