Councils ‘furious’ over threat of bill for elderly home care scheme

Councils are “feeling furious” after being warned they could have to contribute £250 million towards a free home care scheme for the elderly, Tories said today.

Shadow communities secretary Caroline Spelman said ministers must be living in “cloud cuckoo land” if they did not believe this was an “unfunded burden”.

Last month Gordon Brown unveiled plans to provide 400,000 vulnerable elderly people with free personal care in their homes, at an annual cost of £670 million.

Some £420 million of this would be funded by the Department of Health while the rest would be met by local authorities. But council leaders have warned that the Personal Care at Home Bill would increase the strain on an already overburdened social services system.

During Commons question time, Mrs Spelman asked: “Can you understand why councils are feeling so furious after being instructed to meet a £250 million shortfall in the Prime Minister’s latest commitment to personal care?

“Given the Government defines a new burden as any new policy or initiative which increases the cost of providing local authority services, can you explain which part of that £250 million is not covered by that doctrine?”

Communities Secretary John Denham said it was a “shame” the Tories had not welcomed the proposals, which involved the “biggest single transfer of resources” from the NHS to local government since the NHS’s creation in 1948.

“It is a massive vote of confidence in the ability of local government to deliver this policy and I believe that the savings local government is being asked to make can be done,” he said.

“Local government has proven its ability to make efficient savings and plough those back into other frontline services.”

Mrs Spelman said it was unclear where the money for the Bill was coming from.

“The Government must be living in cloud cuckoo land if it believes that the £250 million bill for changes in personal care doesn’t fall under the definition of an unfunded burden,” she said.

But Mr Denham accused the Tories of “breaking out” of cross-party talks aimed at achieving a consensus on social care, instead creating a “cheap shot poster campaign”.

The Conservatives’ controversial poster depicted a gravestone with the words “RIP Off”, following the Government’s suggestion of a compulsory fee of up to £20,000 which could be taken from the estate of a person after death.