Older People In Edinburgh To Be Reimbursed For Meals Preparation

The City of Edinburgh Council is being asked on 1 February to reimburse older people who have been charged for help at home in preparing meals or food.  Refunds to 820 current service users will take some time to process but should all be made by the end of March.

In 2002, the Scottish Parliament made personal care free for older people receiving home care support and residential care. However, Scottish Executive guidance stated that Councils could charge for meals preparation tasks for older people at home. This part of the guidance was subsequently withdrawn but a further letter in May 2006 appeared to suggest that Councils could still charge.

The Council therefore took the initiative by commissioning independent legal advice from an advocate. The legal opinion is very clear: under Free Personal Care legislation the Council can charge for shopping or providing meals or food, but cannot charge for preparing ingredients, cooking, reheating meals, and helping the person to eat.  

Council Leader Ewan Aitken said: “Free Personal Care has brought greater security and dignity to many older people and reduced financial worries about meeting care costs at home, or in residential care. Edinburgh’s older citizens have a right to know what services are free under the policy. 

“The Council has taken the initiative to clarify the confusing guidance from the Scottish Executive on meals and food preparation at home. Thanks to our action Edinburgh citizens will not have to pay for this in future and will be reimbursed for past charges under the scheme we are setting up”.

Councillor Kingsley Thomas, Executive member for Health and Social Care, said: “The Council is committed to providing good quality services for older people in Edinburgh.   Free Personal Care is a very important policy and it is essential to be clear what it covers. At last a long-running problem with the guidance has been resolved.

“We welcome this clarification of the law. We provide or arrange home care services for over 4,000 older people in Edinburgh. The Department ceased charging new and reviewed clients in March last year for meals or food preparation and charges for a further 134 older people were stopped in January. The remaining 685 people who have been charged between 2001 and 2006 will be reviewed by the end of March 2007. A reimbursement scheme is being set up to make refunds for past payments.

“We are very grateful for the patience shown by our service users and their families. We will be writing now to current service users to explain the procedure for refunds. We will be issuing refunds first to people who have already contacted us, and then to other eligible service users by the end of March.

“The Council will meet the costs which are estimated at around £1 million per year in lost income, plus one-off repayment costs of over £2 million. However, we will be asking the Scottish Executive for financial assistance as well as raising Edinburgh’s share of free personal care funding”.