A new report from the Center for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research shows how Revera's care homes in the United Kingdom generate large revenues from patients; all while the company appears to be shifting much of their profits offshore.

Revera operates over sixty care homes in the UK under three brand names and holds a controlling stake in Sunrise Senior Living, which is also one of the largest senior housing operators in the US.

However many of these UK-based care homes are owned via dozens of tax haven subsidiaries in Jersey, Guernsey and Luxembourg.

In 2019, these care homes charged residents more than £225 million in fees but were able to claim multiple UK tax credits. Despite this high turnover, the top three Revera controlled UK companies reported combined annual losses of US$13 million.

Public Services International General Secretary Rosa Pavanelli said:
"Corporations continue to siphon billions out of care homes and into offshore bank accounts, all while residents and front-line workers face inadequate PPE, brutal under staffing and needless death. Care for our loved ones must no longer be undermined by the dangerously warped incentives of the failed care economy. It's time to put people over profit. It's time to make care public."

Revera is already facing lawsuits from families in Canada, who say that negligence by the company contributed to significant Covid-19 deaths. In early November, a Revera home in Manitoba became the site of the largest care home outbreak in the province; 22 deaths were reported in less than two weeks.

“We know that understaffing and low wages led to the large number of preventable deaths in long term care homes across Canada,” said Mark Hancock, National President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which has 65,000 members working in long term care.

“Revera’s aggressive tax avoidance adds insult to injury, and shows it prioritizes profits over improving working and caring conditions. This is an embarrassment for Canadians. We are calling on our government to make the system fully public and demand public accountability and transparency.”

Revera controlled operating companies report losses in the UK, to eliminate income tax payments and even generate tax credits.
Jason Ward, CICTAR

Of major concern to Canadian workers is the fact that Revera is entirely owned by the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP). This has fueled calls from unions for the Canadian government to Make Revera Public to ensure workers' pensions aren't being used to support tax dodging or profiteering from pain. The transition of Revera to public control would be an important step towards a publicly funded and operated care system which puts people before profit.

Christina McAnea, general secretary of UNISON, the UK’s largest union, said,
"All companies and organisations providing public services must pay their fair share of taxes. Everyone in a society needs to contribute towards crucial, but expensive services like care, and that means the big corporations too. All governments need to ensure all money due to the public purse is collected, without exception."

CONTACT
CICTAR: jason.ward@cictar.org
PSI: daniel.bertossa@world-psi.org