Derbyshire impact of adult care cuts lessoned slightly

Derbyshire County Council has agreed to phase in the increase in over two and a half years.

Councillors also agreed that the introduction of a charge for transport to adult care services of £5 per day could be delayed until April 2015.

Both changes are part of a number of measures which will change or reduce the council’s adult care services as part of an overall plan by the council to meet £157 million of budget cuts by 2018.

Of the £157m total, up to £60m is likely to be cut from the money the authority spends on its adult care services.

Cabinet member for adult social care, Councillor Clare Neill, said: “Following the consultation earlier this year we listened to people’s concerns and have made changes to some of the original proposals.

“We are still working hard to try to mitigate the impact of the cuts where we can and I believe that spreading the increased contributions people make towards their care over the next two and a half years will lessen the impact of this change. We also wanted to avoid introducing the charge for transport to adult care services at the same time as increasing the cost of care, which is why we are delaying this until April 2015.”

In a meeting last week, Cabinet agreed that people’s financial contribution should be increased to 75 per cent over a 30 month period, with an increase of 65 per cent on September 29, then 70 per cent in April 2016 and 75 per cent in April 2017. The increases in 2016 and 2017 would be introduced at the same time as the annual increase in welfare benefits.

This proposal will leave the council £903,000 short of its initial cuts target over three years, and the authority has agreed this shortfall will be met from its general reserves.

This means people paying towards their care will see their payments increase from £27.22 to £35.39 per week in October 2014 rising to £38.11 in April 2016 and £40.83 in April 2017.