REDCAR and Cleveland Council
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 7:11 pm
more likely the following drove the REDCAR and Cleveland Council U turnU-turn on decision to cut HomeCall funding
by Evening Gazette Jun 1 2012
REDCAR and Cleveland Council has performed a U-turn on the controversial decision to cut funding for the HomeCall service - for now at least.
The future of the service - which supports the elderly and vulnerable in their homes - has been secured for at least three months after an eleventh hour agreement.
The council previously announced it had pulled funding for hundreds of the 4,000-plus households signed up to the service, which provides 24-hour assistance.
Currently, the council provides funding for almost 3,000 of those that HomeCall covers.
But the authority said it intended to withdraw from funding most of its users from June 30 in a bid to save £683,000 a year.
An agreement has now been reached between the council and provider Coast and Country Housing which will see the HomeCall service continue beyond this month.
The authority has now committed to providing extra funding, so that it continues to pay for the cost of the alarms for more than 3,000 households until the end of September.
Read More http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teess ... -31094554/
Don't cut care for elderly or disabled to save cash, judges tell councils
By Steve Doughty
PUBLISHED: 01:42, 1 June 2012
Councils must not cut back on help for the elderly or disabled just to save money, judges warned yesterday.
The Supreme Court judgment comes as thousands of vulnerable people are being denied home care packages because of stricter criteria used to decide who qualifies.
Judges said councils must not take the state of their own finances into account when they decide how much help someone with ill-health or a limiting condition needs.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1wZ8xQ8Br