Cheshire East Council has defended allegations it charges the highest hourly rate for social care in the UK at £20.34.
The authoritycovering Nantwich and Crewe was highlighted in a BBC report comparing cost of caring for the elderly and infirm.
Some councils charge nothing, the average across the UK was around £13 an hour, with Cheshire East apparently the charging higher than any other.
Lorraine Butcher, the council’s strategic director for children, families and adults, said: “Cheshire East Council has been compared with Tower Hamlets, which it is claimed charges nothing for home care.
“The analysis is misleading and figures quoted are in isolation from the bigger picture. Delivery of social care provision to vulnerable adults is changing rapidly across the country and within Cheshire East.
“Within the borough, relatively few people receive home care provided through traditional care services at the price indicated.
“A higher number of older people receive a free service through our reablement programme which supports them for a period of up to six weeks following discharge from hospital.
“This successful service is not charged for and represents, on a full year basis, over £3m of free home care.
“It is recognised that if people are given concentrated support after a debilitating illness, they can resume a relatively normal life requiring little or no home support.
“If the comparison is to be made with Tower Hamlets, then it must be remembered that Government funding for Cheshire East is among the lowest in the country.”
Cheshire East receives £191.62 per hesad of population compared to Tower Hamlets which gets £968.18.
“While these figures don’t explain the price, they do certainly set the context in which we are forced to work.
“And if people are not in a position to pay in full or a partial contribution, then no charge is made. The only time a care user has to pay fully for services is if they have more than £23,250 in savings. Then we charge only 97% of the cost.”
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