Council defends changes

Perth and Kinross Council hasdefended the changes.

A spokesperson said:“The council has for a number of years been able to afford to use a higher than recommended threshold for clients.

“This has been of benefit to many clients who have paid lower contributions towards their care package in the past.

“However, as part of the annual budget-setting process in February 2016 the council approved a move to adopt the recommended single-person thresholds for all clients.

“This change specifically impacts on working-age clients receiving adult care and support services.”

They went on:“Although Perth and Kinross Council has been able to afford to use the higher threshold in the past, when setting the council budget in 2016 views of the public were taken into account when considering savings options.

“Responses to the most recent consultation, reported to council in February 2018, indicated the public were in favour of changes to how the council charge for services to allow services to continue, even if this meant having to introduce new charges or increase existing charges.

“The introduction of the CoSLA single-person income thresholds is one of the ways in which we are using charging to allow services to continue and to ensure that services can continue to be offered to those people who need them most.”