ELDERLY, ill and frail people face paying up to £10,000 a year to get care services provided for them in their own homes.
Portsmouth City Council has said it will stop subsidising non-residential services such as nursing, washing, dressing and cleaning.
About 270 people across the city will be forced to fork out up to a maximum of £190 a week more than they do now fo
r the same level of care.
The move is expected to net the cash-strapped council about £300,000 a year as part of a raft of money-saving measures designed to claw back £9m of debt over the next three years.
Muriel Deacon, president of Portsmouth Pensioners' Association, said: 'This beggars belief. Older people who use this kind of care only do so if they really need it – they are usually in dire straits. I am very sad that people who are usually quite fragile are being told they will have to manage on their own.'
The council's previous charging system meant the public purse paid for any care costing more than £10.40 an hour.
Health and social care bosses agreed to scrap this and instead demand that anyone with assets other than their home worth more than £22,250 must pay the full cost of care.
Mrs Deacon said people's care could suffer if they were forced to scrimp and save.
'One hour of care a day may not seem a lot but for people who depend on the service to maintain independence in their own homes it can be quite devastating to lose it if they can't afford it,' she said.
She said people shouldn't have to spend their savings. 'Now £22,250 is not a lot of money – people with this money weren't given it as a present, they worked for it and have paid taxes on it,' she added.
The council says the changes are in line with Department of Health guidance.
Peter Pennekett, the council's social care accountant, said only a very few people would be paying hundreds of pounds more than they are now.
Most people would be paying around £30 to £40 a week extra.
Councillor Mike Park, Tory spokesman for health and social care, said: 'I take the opinion that anyone who can pay should pay. I do not see any other way of dealing with the financial situation.'
New clients will start paying immediately while existing clients will start paying from April next year.
The full article contains 426 words and appears in The News newspaper.
