Cuts to adult care in Lincolnshire to affect thousands

Nearly 3,000 people in Lincolnshire are expected to be affected by cuts in social care services for adults.

Lincolnshire County Council has voted to raise the threshold at which elderly and disabled people qualify for services such as home help and access to day centres.

The council hopes the change will help it save £2m over the next two years.

It added it would help those who lost services to find replacement care in the community.

Elderly and disabled people in Lincolnshire are currently put into four categories depending on the level of support they require.

The change will see the council only providing support to the two most severe categories instead of the top three.

‘Different source’

Graham Marsh, executive councillor for adult social care at the Conservative-run council, said: “Nobody receiving services at the moment is just going to get chopped off.

“We will undertake that everyone receiving services will be directed towards help. We will help them access services from a different source.”

The council added the care provided to just over half of those affected was simply providing specialist equipment which they would be allowed to keep but would need to maintain themselves in future.

Marianne Overton, leader of the opposition Independent Group, said she felt the county council was going back on its promise to protect front-line services.

She said: “We’re not talking about taking people to the seaside on a Sunday, in which the voluntary sector does have a role to play, we’re talking about fundamental personal care tasks.”