New corporate killing law 'not understood by care homes'

Many care home managers and owners remain unaware of the implications of the forthcoming law on corporate manslaughter, according to a new study.

The study also reveals that most care home managers are unable to even estimate how much they should be paying for insurance protection against claims under the new law.

According to a study conducted by Gold Direct, the specialist care home division of Venture Preference broker Smart & Cook, 80% of care home owners/managers did not know when the new Corporate Manslaughter Act was due to take effect, and 40% had no understanding of the act itself.

Only 8% were aware that fines under the act were unlimited.

Researchers also asked care home managers how much they felt they were prepared to pay for insurance protection against claims that could be brought under the corporate manslaughter act. By far the biggest group (54%) were unable to name any figure. The next largest group (15%) were prepared to pay less than 5% of their total insurance bill, with a further 11% prepared to pay 5%-10%.

Gold Direct’s Rosemary Bellin said: “We wanted to understand the impact of corporate manslaughter on UK care homes in terms of both liabilities and the behaviour of care home management. What’s become clear to us is that there’s a profound lack of understanding.

“A conviction for corporate manslaughter would bring with it severe penalties that many facilities may not survive and many managers and owners simply don’t seem to recognise. The danger is that care homes are unaware and unprepared for the change in law, which could significantly affect their business.

“Due to the general lack of knowledge about the act it is not surprising that most managers cannot put a value on the cost of protecting themselves with insurance.”

The study sampled the views of 100 care home owner/managers and was conducted on behalf of Gold Direct by an independent research company.

The Corporate Manslaughter Act 2007 comes into force on 6 April 2008. The act creates an offence which means an organisation that causes death by gross negligence can be prosecuted. It applies across the UK to a wide range of organisations which include care homes, NHS bodies, GP partnerships and out-of hours providers. It has been reported that the new act could cost as much as £21.2 million in legal fees.

In order to be convicted under the act, it must be proven that shortcomings in an organisation and its management substantially contributed to a breach of duty of care that caused the fatality