News

The Danish Competition Council intervenes in a municipality's payment arrangements with a private care home provider

The Danish Competition Council (DCC) has decided that the municipality of Frederikssund has offered a private provider of services covered by the Free Choice program, Attendo A/S, a settlement price contrary to regulations established in the Danish care home legislation, including the Danish Act on Care Homes (in Danish: Friplejeboligloven). Attendo A/S is a private provider of care home services in Denmark.

The DCC orders the municipality of Frederikssund to:

  • stop calculating settlement prices contrary to the Free Choice rules in the Danish care home legislation,
  • recalculate the 2021-settlement price, and to
  • make an additional payment to Attendo A/S if the recalculation of the municipality shows that the 2021-settlement price is lower than the price, which the municipality should have used according to the Free Choice rules in the Danish care home legislation.

The legal basis for the decision of the DCC is the Danish Competition Act section 11 b. This section of the Danish Competition Act is applicable, when a public authority offers private providers of services covered by the Free Choice program an unilateral fixed settlement price.

The DCC-decision focus on the obligation of the municipality of Frederikssund to take increasing costs of similar municipal offers into account when calculating and adjusting the fixed settlement price of the private provider.

The decision establishes that the municipality of Frederikssund has not acted in accordance with the Danish care home legislation. Due to the conduct of the municipality of Frederikssund the fixed settlement price of 2021 is lower or estimated to be lower than the price, which the public authority should have used according to the Danish care home legislation. This is due to the following:

  • The municipality of Frederikssund has omitted to include all average long-run costs in the 2021-settlement price.
  • The municipality of Frederikssund has adjusted the 2021-settlement price too late in order to ensure equality between municipal market players and private market players.
  • When the municipality of Frederikssund in 2023 adjusted the 2021-settlement price, the municipality did not base the adjustments on the number of days of care in 2021.

Read the decision (in Danish) 

For further information

Contact the Head of Communications at the Competition and Consumer Authority, Hanne Arentoft, at +45 41 71 50 98.