The Danish Competition Authority, led by Chairman Christian Schultz, has emphasized the importance of fair competition between municipalities and private providers of care services. As the elderly population increases, it is crucial that private providers operate under reasonable and predictable conditions to effectively contribute to elder care.

Frederikssund Municipality failed to adjust its payment prices to the private provider, Attendo A/S, in line with rising operational costs. This delay meant that Attendo had to wait two years for a price adjustment, which ultimately did not account for all relevant costs.

The municipality was found to have violated competition law by unilaterally setting payment prices contrary to the private care home law. The Competition Authority has mandated that Frederikssund Municipality cease this practice, recalculate the payment price for 2021, and compensate Attendo if the recalculation indicates that the price was set too low.

The ruling highlights the municipality's obligation to increase payments to private care providers when costs for municipal services rise. The Competition and Consumer Authority concluded that Frederikssund's practices did not comply with the private care home legislation, resulting in a payment price for 2021 that was likely lower than legally required.

Three main issues were identified: the municipality failed to include all average costs in the 2021 payment price, delayed the price adjustment too long to ensure equality between municipal and private providers, and did not base the adjustment on the number of care days for 2021 as required.