Thousands across Cornwall may pay more for social care

A FORMAL consultation which began on Monday could see 4,800 people across Cornwall paying more to receive adult care from the county council.
The authority is re-evaluating what people pay for adult care to help safeguard the service’s future.

The proposed changes would:

• See the maximum amount people are allowed to contribute towards their care (currently £250 per week) scrapped so they pay the full price.
• Include disability-related benefits and expenditure when assessing how much (if anything) people can afford to pay towards services.
• See Cornwall Council charge for services which are currently free, such as day services, with people being means tested to see if they can afford to contribute.
• Change the way people are assessed for respite care, moving care from within the residential charging policy to the domiciliary charging policy.
• Charge the exact amount of people’s contribution towards care, rather than rounding down to the nearest 50p – which could see people pay a maximum of an extra £25.48 per year.

A new policy for transport provided by adult care is also being proposed.

Transport for day centres is currently free for those who need it, but costs the council about £1.8 million a year.

But the authority said a proposed eligibility criteria would be used to assess when adult care would pay for a person’s transport.

Due to cuts in government grants and a freeze in council tax for the past three years, Cornwall Council has had to save £170 million since 2010. It is planning a further £40 million worth of savings by 2016 and £100 million by 2018. The authority said there were also increasing pressures from an ageing population and more people requiring care and support.

The proposals, if accepted, will contribute around £3 million towards maintaining the services.

Judith Haycock, Cabinet member for Adult Care, Health and Wellbeing, said: “We want to encourage people to tell us their views and will be writing directly to everyone who is currently receiving a service, who may be affected.”

The consultation runs until November 10, before the council’s Cabinet make a decision on whether to adopt the policies.