By Craig Smith

OUTCRY over the proposed increase in home care fees in Fife has continued to swell after clients were led to believe that higher charges would be imposed on those needing more than one carer.

Fife Council will increase home care costs from £4 per week to £11 per hour from January 7 in a bid to plug a social work budget shortfall of around £2 million, with charges for the previously free shopping delivery and community alarm services also being introduced.

Opponents fear the costs involved will force elderly people or those with disabilities to choose between having carers or paying fuel bills.

Confusion reigned yesterday after one Fife woman, who did not wish to be named, contacted The Courier to point out that a pamphlet distributed to clients stated that the hourly rate will be per carer—leading her, and no doubt others, to think that many of the neediest people would face even heftier bills.

Describing the charges as an “obscene infringement of disabled people’s rights,” the Glenrothes resident said she was concerned the cost of care for her husband would effectively go up to £22 per hour, simply because he needed two carers to help him get in and out of bed, morning and night.

But when asked to clarify the matter, the local authority’s social work department confirmed that the leaflet was misleading, with the fee only to be applied per hour and not per carer.

In a statement last night, Kenny Leinster, senior manager for social work services, said, “We’re happy to confirm that the charge is £11 per hour for the service provided, not per member of staff.

“This is the charge that was approved by the social work and health committee.

“We’ll be communicating this to all service users in the new year and we will be distributing no further copies of the leaflet.”

Disabled or elderly people normally require an extra carer’s help when they need to be moved in and out of bed using a hoist for safety reasons.

The clarification that the charge will be £11 per hour and not per carer will be at least of some relief to those affected, although strength of opposition towards the increase in charges continues to grow.

Louise McLeary, spokes-person for the newly formed Campaign Against Charges (CAC) group, said the charges would discriminate against those people who needed services most.

“We’ve had a great response from the public against these charges and there’s a lot of people wanting to take petitions about them—people are literally queuing up in opposition to these,” she said.

“These charges are being introduced without one councillor or official consulting with a single service user or without doing the necessary impact study which they are obliged in law to do.”

The CAC group have already compiled a 1600-signature petition opposing the changes and will demonstrate outside Fife House tomorrow morning to voice their concerns.