A “wicked policy” has been referred to the next Bedford Borough Full Council Meeting for consideration by members.
Earlier in July, the portfolio holder for valuing families: adult services, councillor Robert Rigby (Conservative, Bromham) passed an Executive Decision to approve charging some users for the Telecare service.
Telecare is the provision of one or more detector devices (e.g. fall detectors) which, if triggered, sends an alert via telephone to a central alarm monitoring centre.
The aim was to establish a “financially sustainable” service for residents, but nine councillors “called in” this decision so it could be scrutinised by the Adult Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Monday, 29 July).
Councillor Charles Royden (Lib Dem, Brickhill), one of the nine members who called the decision in, told the Committee: “I’ve spoken to people who are going to be impacted by what I believe is quite a cruel decision to charge for this lifeline
“It’s clear that the cost is going to be too much for some of them, and there’ll be those who simply cannot afford to raise over £200 pounds.
“Means testing will not make this proposal any more acceptable, we will see people drop out and be at risk. This policy will expose our most vulnerable residents to greater risk, and deny them the independence that they deserve.
“It’s a wicked policy, and it doesn’t make moral or financial sense,” he said.
Councillor Rigby told the committee that the council has a “serious funding gap” that has increased in the last financial year.
“Adults [Services] deficit was £4.4 million for adult social care, and on top of that there was a £145,000 overspend on Telecare over the next two to three years,” he said.
“For Telecare alone, the gap could be at least £750,000 and that doesn’t even include the cost of ensuring that the equipment we provide will continue to work in the new digital age,” he said.
Councillor Rigby added that he considered continuing to “rob Peter to pay Paul” to close the gap by cutting other services in the short term.
“But then I concluded we’ll only be back here again in this position in two to three years time asking ourselves how do we pay for this service,” he said.
He told the Committee that “95 per cent” of other councils with this same “challenge” use a contribution from service users.
Councillor Sue Oliver (Labour, Kempston North) said: “You have chosen to penalise the elderly, the sick and the vulnerable when you belatedly realised that your Conservative government had slashed local government beyond the bone and failed to address the really, really, failing social care system.
“And your Conservative administration in Bedford Borough has chosen to pump money into various other manifesto pledges. The leisure village and buying Debenhams come to mind.
“Instead of taking on board the responsibilities of what takes 70 per cent of our budget, and that is adults and children’s social care,” she said.
The Committee, after having heard representations from the call-in members and councillor Rigby, and clarification from officers, debated the matter and voted to refer the decision to the next available Full Council for consideration.
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
