LABOUR LAMBETH CARE CHARGES STILL HIGHEST IN COUNTRY - DESPITE U-TURN

1.14.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 9th Jul 2008

Lambeth Lib Dems oppose Lambeth Labour's heartless care charges hike

Labour run Lambeth has been forced to back down on its plans to hike charges for services like home helps to £20 an hour.

But opposition Lib Dem Councillors have warned that this still means Lambeth has the highest hourly care charge anywhere in England at £17.50 an hour.

Lib Dem Councillor Rob Banks said: "Lambeth Labour were forced to agree to the Lib Dem proposal to the council meeting on July 9th calling for no further increase in care charges. But this is not good enough. We also wanted a cut in the charges to £10 an hour using some of the recent cash windfall that Lambeth council have been given by the Government."

He added: "Labour Lambeth may have backed down on any further increases for now, but they are still piling on the misery by having the highest care charges in England. They must look again at this and reduce the charges further".

ENDS

Note to editors: The Lib Dem motion on care charges to tonight's meeting of Lambeth Council has been amended by Labour, but the words "Council calls for the ruling out of any further increase in care charges to £20 an hour" remain in the amendment. A link can be found (on page 98 of the PDF) at

http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/moderngov/Published/C00000142/M00006175/AI00005336/$09Motionsregisterwitham090708asat260608.docA.ps.pdf