77% increase in County Council charges for homecare

If you are old and need help living at home, Cheshire may not be the place to live. Audlem Online has been contacted by a local resident pointing out that Cheshire County Council is putting up the fees for homecare (for example, for the elderly) by 77 per cent – yes, seventy seven per cent in June. The hourly charges are going up from £9.26 per hour to £16.46. The correspondent's mother has about 7 hours a week help. Obviously it is less for those who have no savings but, she says, it seems a very mean way to collect more money.

Staffordshire, in contrast, charge £11.54 and Derbyshire £9.04. Age Concern have protested to Cheshire County Council to no avail and there is a letter in this week's Chronicle about it. Surely, she says, there are ways they could recoup money without

penalising those who would prefer not to need the help in the first place. She adds that the Government was supposed to want more old people to stay in their own homes with support – a 77% increase in charges seems a funny way to encourage them!

Audlem Online has been asked to raise this with Stephen O'Brien when he visits Audlem today to see if he can do anything about this inflation busting policy. The only percentage increase to rival it that we know of are the parking charges increases at Leighton Hospital!

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