AS LIVERPOOL ELDERLY AND VULNERABLE RESIDENTS FACE MORE UPSET AND FEAR, FROM THE PROPOSED AND IMPLIMENTED CHANGES IN THE PRIVATE CARE SECTOR AND ALSO THE IN HOUSE HOME CARE SERVICE OF THE COUNCIL, HAVE MEANT ONCE AGAIN THE PEOPLE WHO RELY UPON THE CARERS AND THE SERVICES THEY PROVIDE ARE PUNISHED.

Councillor Antrobus, the Liberal Democrat who voted to cut your care!

READ BELOW FOR DETAILS OF HOW CHANGES IN THE LAW WILL ALSO HAVE A MAJOR EFFECT UPON THE VERY PEOPLE WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE LOOKING AFTER!

Elderly face soaring home-help charges

By STEVE DOUGHTY - More by this author » Last updated at 00:25am on 2nd July 2007

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Hundreds of thousands of elderly people are paying huge charges for home help

Hundreds of thousands of elderly people are facing steep charges for home-help, a report will say this week.

The rate at which town halls are cutting back on meals-on-wheels and help with dressing, cleaning and shopping is increasing fast, the study has found.

It means thousands of frail and vulnerable people face a growing f

inancial struggle to live in their own homes.

For many, the only alternative will be moving to a residential care home, where the council only pays the bill once they have exhausted residents' savings.

The accelerating cutbacks are set out in a survey conducted by the Counsel and Care charity.

It found that two out of three social services departments provide-free help at home to only the most dependent and disabled householders, and that the number of councils restricting free services went up by 15 per cent last year.

Local government chiefs have themselves warned that 400,000 people will lose free help at home by 2009.

Those who are forced to pay are charged an average of more than £160 a week, with some town halls demanding £320 - roughly the average weekly income for retired couples.

Each local authority has its own means testing system for deciding who should receive help to live at home.

The Daily Mail's Dignity for the Elderly campaign has exposed the pain and loss caused by the system, which forces many to go into care homes and sell their houses to meet the bills.

Last year an influential report by former Treasury troubleshooter Sir Derek Wanless called for a major increase in Government spending on homehelp services.

He found that those who stay in their own homes are happier and cheaper to help.

Sir Derek accused council social services departments of trying to push the elderly into care homes in order to grab the value of their property.

Stephen Burke, of Counsel and Care, said: "Our figures show the social care problem will not solve itself.

"Without active intervention, the system is going to collapse as more and more people need to be cared for at home."