Wandsworth council doubles price it charges better-off families to organise care for relatives
Better-off families who pay their local authority to organise care for family members are being driven towards doing it themselves by a massive price hike.
Residents who can afford to pay for their own support currently give Wandsworth council £25 a week to cover the costs of making care arrangements, which include commissioning, contract monitoring, and payments.
But the council is doubling that fee to £50 in an attempt to force the residents into making the arrangements themselves.
Officers argued this would allow the council’s resources to be focused on those in most need – and a fall in the number of ‘self-funders’ would reduce waiting times for assessments.
However, Labour councillors attempted to move forward an amendment for a smaller increase of £5 per week, increasing annually until it reached the £50 fee set by the council for new users to the service.
Labour Councillor Annamarie Critchard said the small number of residents it affected would have budgeted for a £25 weekly fee, and should not face an unreasonably large increase in the cost of their care.
She added these residents wouldn’t receive care “unless they were vulnerable in a particular way,” and that the borough should be “sympathetic” to these groups.
But chairman Cllr Ian Lewer said he believed the money “could be better spent on those not able to be self-funders”.
The amendment was defeated 4-4, with the chairman’s casting vote.
The Labour group then “begrudgingly” accepted the recommendations as they felt it would be too complicated to insert further stipulations.
The council will continue to offer information and advice to support self-funding residents to find local care services and organisations who could assist them.
Residents who need further help to understand their care needs can also request a full needs assessment before making their own arrangements.
The revised fees do not apply to the 139 self-funders who requested support from the council before the original price hike in April 2019.
These residents will continue to pay a lower charge of £130 per year, proposed to increase to £135 per annum to protect them from the large increase.
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