Shielding the vulnerable from impact of cuts

With regard to the article last week ‘Care cuts costs are a disgrace’, I would like to explain the increase in charges for some of our adult services, agreed in council in April.

For many years the council has kept charges artificially low, and in some cases free, to try to ease the pressures on vulnerable members of the public. However, since the  coalition government came into power and embarked on its unprecedented cuts agenda, we have been forced to find huge amounts of savings that will equate to £46m over four years, plus significant reductions in grant funding.  Inevitably, this has had an effect on our ability to continue to deliver services at current levels.

On this basis we have been forced to consider how we can improve efficiency, plus increase charges rather than reduce provision. They are not easy decisions, but we have tried to minimise the impact on  those who use the services as much as possible. While we have introduced an increase in the charging cap to a maximum of £90 per week, we have also provided transitional protection for current service users.

This still maintains one of the lowest levels of charging nationally, and means that any client in receipt of our services will only be subject to a maximum increase of £15 a week. As part of the process prior to levying a charge, every individual has a financial assessment to assess their ability to pay, with a significant proportion that result in no charge, and are therefore not affected by these changes.

While accepting that an increase in charges is never likely to be welcomed, we remain committed to balancing this with maintaining the level and quality of provision within the resources. In the current economic climate and with the pressures our services are under, I firmly believe we have been prudent in addressing the financial challenges faced by services, and responsible in shielding as far as possible those who are the most vulnerable from the full impact of the cuts imposed on us by central government.