Council refuses to reduce ‘ridiculously high’ care charges

CARE charges for elderly and vulnerable people in North East Lincolnshire will not be reduced – despite the council's leader branding them "ridiculously high".

In June, the newly-elected Labour administration promised to conduct a review into the charges for home care and day centres which had been introduced under the Fairer Contributions System.

'NOT SURPRISED': Peter Greenfield, 70, now uses private day care after seeing his hourly rate for home visits go up from £6.75 to £11.24. He said: "I'm not surprised the council has not been able to reduce the charges." Picture: Rick Byrne

As reported, the changes, which were introduced in April, saw some service users hit with massive increases to their care bills.



After being elected, council leader Councillor Chris Shaw said the charges were "ridiculously high" and vowed to look at them again. However, this week Cabinet approved the recommendations set out by the review panel to keep charges at the current rate.

Mr Shaw said that "external pressures" on the council's finances meant that reducing the charges was not an option.

He said: "We do appreciate the charges increased significantly at the last budget and, in an ideal world, we would be able to reduce them, but the pressures forced on us by central government mean we don't have the flexibility to do that. We think the system is fair, even though the costs are too high. However, we will make sure the vulnerable and those in financial need will get the support they need."

The report also outlined a number of other recommendations, including a review of the way day care centres are run, and to investigate spreading spending to a wider range of support services.

Tracey Dark, whose mother Marlene Woodroffe saw her monthly bill for home care and visits to a day centre go up from £45 to £273, said she was disappointed at the decision.

"The charges are still way too high. My mum did stop going to the Curzon Centre but after she had a financial assessment she found out she the fee she pays for the day care centre is the same, whether she goes once a week or two to three times a week."

Peter Greenfield, 70, now uses private day care after seeing his hourly rate for home visits go up from £6.75 to £11.24.

He said: "I'm not surprised the council has not been able to reduce the charges. If they had I would have wanted to know where the money was coming from as a council taxpayer. I think it is a fair system."

Councillor Philip Jackson (Con), shadow cabinet member for People Services, said Labour had unrealistically raised expectations amongst elderly and vulnerable service users that charges would be reduced in a bid to win votes in May's local elections.

Deputy council leader Mick Burnett said: "We didn't say we would reduce the charges, we said we would review them."