Plans to increase adult social charges brought on by 'perfect storm' - councillor

Telford & Wrekin Council launched an 11-week consultation this week on cabinet proposals to increase charges for adults who receive care at home, day care and transport, and pay the council for those services.

Of the 1,882 people who receive chargeable care in the borough, 943 – 50.1 per cent – could be affected by one or more of the seven proposed changes – depending on their individual financial circumstances.

The Care Act 2014 sets out how much borough councils should charge residents for adult social care, but Telford & Wrekin Council says it has not ‘fundamentally reviewed’ its policy since the act was introduced.

Councillor Paul Watling, the authority's cabinet member for adult social care and health systems, says that a reduction in Government funding combined with an increase in people aged over 65 has resulted in a "perfect storm".

“For the past nine years since the introduction of the Care Act we have maintained generous quotes for social care charges,” said Councillor Watling.

“We tried really hard to ensure that we offered the best possible service for the lowest charges we could possibly impose.

“This has resulted in us having significantly lower charges compared to national guidelines and other local authorities.

“Alongside that we have received even less money from central government than nine years ago. As a council we have put in £7.26million extra into adult social care this year.

“That is still insufficient to maintain the same level of service and provide the best level of care and support that residents need.

“It’s a perfect storm as we also face an increasing demand on adult social care services.

“We find ourselves in a position now where we have to go with what the Government say that we should be charging, because the Government is not funding adult social care appropriately for us to keep to that generous approach that we had.”

The council says there has been a 36 per cent increase in residents who are aged 65 and over in the borough between 2011 and 2021 – with a higher percentage of those aged between 70 and 74.

Councillor Watling says that people who moved to Telford when they were in their 20s and 30s when Telford was a ‘new town’ are now moving into that age bracket.

In addition to the increase in older residents Councillor Watling says that there is nationally a ‘growing pressure’ on the care market and a rising cost of care packages.

Despite the proposed charge increase Councillor Watling has told service users ‘not to panic’.

“We will continue to deliver the highest standard of care of people who use our services, while ensuring their contributions to care are affordable and based on their individual circumstances,” Councillor Watling added.

“There will be scaremongering going on from other people. I would tell people ‘don’t panic’, we will work with those people.

“There are seven changes that we’re making to the charging policies, in order to continue to provide the best care and support.

He added: "We will be talking to everybody individually about that process.”

The consultation process launched this week and will run for 11 weeks until September 4.

Councillor Watling said that the consultation process will be carried out on the council’s website as well as through paper copies and bookable sessions for people to meet with council representatives and focus groups.

“We want to work with people so that they feel comfortable that their voices are being heard in this consultation process,” the cabinet member added.

“We want to fully understand the impact of these proposed changes on people. We will do that by talking to people individually about what the charging changes will be for them.

“We value the input of people who use our social care services who will each receive a personalised explanation of the proposed changes to their individual circumstances.

“We’ve worked for 12 years as a competent council to make sure that we’re working alongside our communities and working with people who use our services.

“We will use those processes to ensure that we’re getting the message across and making sure this is affordable for people.”