Tax rise ‘the cost of saving care homes’

Jan 28 2008 by Neil Mckay, The Journal

A COUNCIL tax rise is the price to pay for saving old people’s homes and spending money on the elderly, a local authority boss said last night.

People living in County Durham face a 2.9% increase in their bills following the leadership struggle which led to the saving of the homes for the elderly.

Albert Nugent, a 63-year-old former miner from Seaham, who now heads the North’s biggest local authority, said the proposed increase which members are due to discuss on Thursday could result in millions more being spent on protecting and supporting “vulnerable” members of the community, including the elderly.

Last week Coun Nugent survived a vote of no confidence passed by 19 fellow Labour councillors.

He took over as leader in 2006 from Ken Manton after leading a backbench revolt against a plan to close the care homes.

Coun Manton believed the authority could save £3m a year if it closed down the homes as part of plans to modernise the way in which care services for older people were provided.

But care workers, residents and relatives held protests over the plans.

And Coun Nugent said last night: “My critics said we would have to dip into council reserves to keep the care homes open, but they have been proved wrong.

“The 2.9% council tax rise is the same increase for the second year running. By prudent management we have been able to maintain our services to the people of the county without letting the council tax rise get out of hand. I survived a vote of no confidence last week because there are enough of my colleagues who still believe in what this council is trying to achieve. To the best of my knowledge we are the only authority in the country who has managed to keep its care homes open.

“But I promised to keep those homes open and I will not change. I believe this is a caring budget which is responsive to public opinion on where our priorities should lie.”

The proposed draft budget would raise Band D bills by £28.89 to £1,024.38 and would also mean an extra £6.5m being spent on services for older people, people with learning disabilities and vulnerable children and young people.

Another £2m is earmarked for additional measures to protect the county’s environment, bolster highway maintenance and meet higher bus subsidy costs.

At Thursday’s meeting members will consider spending an additional £4.7m on adult and community services.

Also considered will be proposals to spend an additional £1.8m on children and young people’s services, to include an extra £220,000 to meet the increasing costs of payments to parents who choose to support children with learning disabilities at home.

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Housing trap warning

NEARLY half a million people in the North-East could be trapped in inadequate housing as they get older, a new survey suggests.

The Generation Evicted Report examines Britain’s housing desires against the needs of an ageing society and reckons that 453,000 people in the region will be unable to stay in their current homes as their needs change.

The study, conducted with over 1,500 homeowners across the UK, showed a significant number of Britons were uncomfortable with the prospect of moving into a care home.

In the North-East, almost half (48%) of those surveyed "couldn’t think of anything worse" than moving into a care home and just 8% of people would be happy to move into one. For 10% of those questioned, having no alternative to a care home in later life is one of their biggest fears.

Mervyn Kohler from Help the Aged, said: "A significant proportion of the UK’s current housing stock does not meet the needs of older people.

"The Government should look urgently at the concept of lifetime homes which can be adapted to suit the changing needs of older age."