Councils forced to withdraw subsidised care packages
Care service users in Worcestershire are about to lose much of the financial support they receive from their local authority.
Worcestershire County Council agreed in July to remove the subsidiary from many of its adult care services.
Previously, with an average day-care services bill coming in at around £65 per day, the council would pay more than £60, leaving service users to pay the remaining £4.60 a day, if they had been assessed as being able to afford it.
But under constant pressure to meet budgets that have already been slashed, care services are the latest victim of the cuts in WCC.
The authority said only those assessed as being able to afford to pay for their care would see their charged rise.
New service users will pay the increased fees from January 2012, with existing service users having their increases phased in gradually after a process of means testing.
The decision to change the charging arrangement is intended to save the council £2 million and is part of its overall target to save £60-70 million by 2015.
