Labour does U-Turn on Critical Home Care

1.40.49pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 11th Jul 2007

Labour's U-Turn on care cuts will still put charges up to the highest level in London

Labour has been forced into an embarrassing U-Turn on its controversial Home Care Policy to move its eligibility criteria to 'critical'. Had it been enacted, it would have been the first London Borough to operate such a harsh regime in the Capital.

The abandonment of the policy will be greeted with some relief by users and carers as a first step towards a much longer battle with Labour's callous councillors who still want to see charges for services to many of the poorest and most vulnerable citizens rocket to levels many of them could not afford. And in a double whammy, Labour's deep cuts to the voluntary sector are causing real hardship and even closure of much-valued local services.

Council Leader, Labour's Steve Reed, recently crowed that his skillful financial wizardry had averted the crisis that led them to announce that Labour Lambeth would introduce the harshest social care support package in the land, but hundreds of demonstrators against the proposed measures were equally well aware that he had just pocketed a self-awarded hike in his own special (ir)responsibility allowances.

Lib Dem spokesperson, Cllr Rob Banks, said, " Labour has caved-in to pressure from decent-minded people from all over the Borough who were aghast that a Labour administration could even bring itself to consider such a draconian measure."

Cllr Banks added, "The fight is now on to slash the scandalous increase in charges that will make many of the services completely unaffordable to the vast majority of service users. And we have to make them see sense that we cannot afford to let the voluntary sector wither and die for want of adequate funding..The work that they do is vital so that older people in the Borough can retain some dignity and remain in their own homes with a support network to care for them."

Under Labour's proposals homecare charges would rocket from £7.55 per hour to a whopping £17.50 when the cost to the Council is only £13 per hour. And a year later miserly Labour proposes to increase its profit from the vulnerable by raising charges to a staggering £20 per hour.

Among other charges Labour's workhouse ethic masters want to levy £17.50 per shopping trip for an elderly person's daily pint of milk and loaf of bread.

Under uncaring Lambeth Labour the grocery bill would actually be cheaper at Harrods.