A NUMBER of care homes in Bury are under investigation by the Office of Fair Trading amid allegations of "price fixing".

The OFT recently executed search warrants and carried out on-site investigations at locations in the borough, including Heathlands Village in Prestwich.

The investigation follows allegations that a group of care homes in the Greater Manchester area (it is not known how many) were working together to illegally fix prices for residential nursing and care services.

The OFT is still gathering evidence and it is not known how long the process will take.

The revelation comes after protests from care homes earlier this year over the lack of funding by Bury Council compared to other local authorities.

Bury offered a three per cent rise in April followed by another 2.5 per cent in September, with a three per cent plus inflation rise next year and two per cent plus inflation the year after.

More than 20 private care homes formed the Bury Care Providers Action Group to negotiate with the council and warned of possible homes closures due to the funding situation.

An OFT spokesman said: "These visits form part of an OFT Competition Act investigation involving allegations of the existence of a cartel involving price fixing for residential nursing and care services. But no assumptions should be made at this stage that there has been an infringement of competition law and we will not be in a position to decide that until we have all the facts."

Bury Council refused to comment.