The Conservatives were today accused of “scaremongering” after claiming that more than 2 million elderly people could lose out under the government’s plan to offer free social care at home to needy pensioners.

A social worker who filmed up women’s skirts during shopping trips for his own “personal gratification” was removed from the register today.

Council spending on education and children’s social services in the Bath area will need to be cut by £3.4 million over the next three years.

Organisations representing the elderly welcomed the pledges on social care featured in the Queen’s speech today, but said the government should have gone further in instigating overdue reform of the widely-derided existing system.

Fears have been expressed about other services that may be axed after a County Hall u-turn on a planned cut to subsidies for college bus passes.

The Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb, has hit out at Gordon Brown and David Cameron over the social care bill.

Eighteen elderly residents will have to find a new home before Christmas, as a Camberwell care home will shut due to the recession.