Council tax strike threat
OAPS group calls for action on social care
‘Our members have had enough of being fobbed off over reforms’
OLDER people are being urged to join a council tax strike over social care provision.
Elderly rights campaign group Silver Voices claims two million people across the UK are not getting the support they are entitled to and are left struggling to feed, bathe or look after themselves.
The group – which is also leading a campaign of resistance against the scrapping of free TV licences for the over-75s – said older people should withhold their council tax to pay for help.
And it said it would support anyone who did so after a poll of its members found 98 per cent backed the call to action.
Silver Voices argues that social care is in a state of collapse and needs an immediate £10billion in funding, not the £1billion pledged by the Government.
It also said there was an urgent need for long-term reform as up to 50 people a day are forced to sell their homes to pay for care fees,
despite repeated promises from Prime Minister Boris Johnson that this would be stopped.
Councils have a statutory responsibility to safeguard older people and provide social care support.
But the group claims some are providing less social care than they are legally obliged to, by using emergency coronavirus legislation.
Silver Voices has called for free
social care across the UK, delivered on the same basis as the NHS.
Currently, pensioners in England are means-tested. In Scotland and Northern Ireland some social care is free and in Wales the costs of home support are capped.
Silver Voices director Dennis Reed said: “Age UK research showed that older people are dying at a rate of 80 a day while waiting
for social care.we will never know how many of these senior citizens, who had paid national insurance and council tax all their lives, would have had their lives extended if timely social care had been put in place.
“Our members have had enough of being fobbed off with broken promises of social care reform.why should an older person, who is struggling to feed and clean themselves and has been denied their legal right to dignity, be required to pay their council tax?
“They could use this money to buy in support. Let them try and enforce payment when statutory responsibilities are not being met.
“We are calling on the Government to increase funding for social care by £10billion in the March Budget and commit to reform plans this year.”
He said in the last spending review the Chancellor Rishi Sunak offered £1billion, most of which was dependent on council tax rising by five per cent in April.
A government spokesman said: “Council tax is used to help fund key local services, from adult social care and children’s services, to refuse collections and leisure facilities. Uncollected tax means less money for services and higher bills for residents who do pay on time.
“We are focused on ensuring all those in adult social care continue to receive the very best care during the Covid-19 pandemic.”