Care charities ‘would be subject to new corporate abuse law’

Care charities have lined up to support a proposed new law to hold care providers from all sectors – including charities – criminally accountable for neglect and abuse in hospitals and care homes.

Former care services minister Paul Burstow introduced a new Bill in Parliament yesterday that would amend the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to include a new offence of corporate neglect.  It attempts to ensure that abuse of the kind suffered by residents of the notorious Winterbourne View care home can never happen again.

Under the Bill, corporate bodies – whether private sector corporations, public sector entities, or charities – would face unlimited fines, remedial orders and publicity orders.  Such penalties mirror the sanctions introduced in the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.

Burstow proposed the Bill after editing and publishing a report this month entitled Care and Corporate Neglect: Corporate accountability and adult safeguarding, which explores how corporate bodies could be held criminally responsible for abuse and neglect that takes place in hospitals and care homes.

Presenting his Bill to the Commons yesterday, Burstow said no stone should be left unturned when protecting vulnerable people. “This new law would act as a deterrent,” he said. “It would force weak boards of directors to pull their socks up.”

He went on: “When things go wrong – when terrible abuse and neglect take place – the public expect those who take the fee to be held to account. It is not just the public who think so; many in the care sector do as well.

“Introducing a criminal sanction has the backing of the charity Action on Elder Abuse and of the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group, whose members include the Carers Trust, Leonard Cheshire Disability, the MS Society, Mencap, the National Autistic Society, and Scope.”

Andrew McGuinness, a researcher from Burstow’s office, confirmed that the intention of the Bill was to catch all care providers, regardless of the sector they come from.  But he sought to reassure charities that most operators have nothing to fear from the proposed new legislation, because they already operate to high standards of care.

He also sought to allay alarm at the prospect of unlimited fines: “Paul’s proposals are designed to mirror the current legislation and guidelines within the Corporate Manslaughter Act 2007. The CPS prosecution and sentencing guidelines states that whilst the amount of any fine should not be specifically set due to the size of a company, a judge when sentencing must take the size of a company into account when levying a suitable fine.”

As well as introducing a new offence of corporate neglect, Burstow’s Bill proposes changing the law to require any person or organisation to supply information to an adult safeguarding board – in the same way that any safeguarding board for children and young people can already demand information.

Burstow concluded: “At Winterbourne View, staff carried out horrific acts because of the opportunities a culture of cruelty created.  This Bill would help to remove some of those opportunities.”

The Corporate Accountability and Safeguarding of Adults from Abuse and Neglect Bill, which is now a Private Member’s Bill, will be read for the second time on 1 March.