KCC ‘like Scrooge’ over plans for care charge changes
Tory’s attack as social services get £26m more
Kent County Council has been accused of acting like Scrooge over plans to change the charging rules for those receiving social care in their own homes.
Social services chiefs have outlined steps to save money just a week after it learned it was to get an extra £26m this year from the government for social care.
The changes include a plan to charge an unspecified arrangement fee for those who pay for their care because they have assets of more than £23,250 but ask KCC to arrange that care.
Up until now, the council has imposed no fees. Another pro- posal would involve changing the rules on the way the council treats the savings and assets of those who receive care, where the value of these is between £14,250 and £23,250.
At the moment, the amount paid is £1 per week for every £ 500 someone has between these amounts, but this could change to £ 1 for every £ 250, saving the authority £300,000 a year.
Social services chiefs say the move would bring the council in line with other authorities. But Conservative county councillor Alan Marsh launched an attack, saying people would not understand why they faced increased charges when the government had announced a £ 2bn cash injection for care.
He said: “The savings expected is less than £300,000 in a full year when we are to get an extra £ 26m from the government. People will see it as Scrooge-like – a shortcut to making a few pounds out of the customer. In both cases, it is unnecessary, a small amount of money and we do not need it,” he told a meeting of KCC’s social care cabinet committee.
But Cllr Graham Gibbens, the cabinet member for adult care, said the county council was facing severe pressures coping with rising numbers of elderly needing to be looked after.
Fellow Conservative councillor Penny Cole also backed the changes, saying: “It is a small amount of money but every penny helps.”
Cllr Marsh failed to persuade fellow committee members to reject the plans in a vote.