Care Charges Are Set To Rise

Thousands of elderly and disabled people in Northumberland face rises in charges they pay for care to help the county council tackle a potential £2m budget shortfall. The maximum weekly charge for home care – paid by 675 people – is set to go up from £45 to £60 in April.

It could then rise to between £80 and £85 in October if a further increase is considered necessary to balance the council’s books. The cost of a meal from the meals on wheels service is set to go up from £2 to £2.50 and the daily charge for transport to and from day care is set to double to £2.

Those increases would potentially affect 2,375 pensioners and disabled people. The county council also plans to introduce means-tested charges for day care from October on the basis used to assess home care. The plans, aimed at increasing income by £750,000, come after county councillors were warned last year of a potential £2m overspend on the adult social care budget.

A plan to tackle the projected shortfall, includes a review of charges. But Age Concern Northumberland campaigns manager Marie McWilliams said: “How can older people be expected to deal with a weekly increase in social care costs of 33%, rising to a possible 77%, when their pension is only increasing by 3.6%?”

Bob Pinkerton, 68, of Gateshead, North-East secretary of the National Pensioners’ Convention, said: “These sort of charges are a big worry for elderly people on top of council tax and other bills. I would be concerned about a council targeting elderly people to raise income and sort out budget problems. If there was a proper state pension people would not have to worry about paying these charges, but there isn’t.”

The county council executive will be recommended to start consultations on the two-stage plan to raise income.

The maximum weekly charge for home care was raised from £35 to £45 earlier this year, but officials say the proposals have been drawn up following advice from a panel made up of service users and carers.

The proposed increase in home care fees and the introduction of day care charges would be based on people’s ability to pay.

Last night the county council’s executive member for health and wellbeing, Tony Reid, said the proposals had been drawn up following advice from a panel made up of service users and carers from a cross-section of backgrounds.