Council says ‘difficult decisions’ needed as it plans to reduce £130m annual social care bill

Stockport council is planning to bring in new charges to reduce its £130m annual social care bill.

The council wants to make social care ‘fairer’ and has launched a public consultation on plans to slash spending, saying it needs to make ‘difficult decisions’ to balance the books.

Proposals include financial assessments for everyone getting council funded care, and scrapping a £485 cap on weekly charges for those getting care at home.

READ MORE: Andy Burnham announces scheme that will save bus passengers 'a lot of money'

Other measures could see the council start charging interest on money owed to it for social care, introduce fees for arranging care for people not eligible for council funding who pay for their own support, and remove a 50 percent second carer discount.

Stockport council currently spends nearly 40 percent of its total budget on adult social care, but it is under growing pressure financially and has a £49m black hole to plug by 2027/28.

Approving the proposed changes to social care would save the council around £750,000 a year in total.

Coun Keith Holloway, Stockport council's cabinet member for health and adult social care, said the town hall must make "tough decisions" to ensure frontline services continue.

He added: "Like many councils across the country, we face significant and unprecedented financial challenges, with rising costs and reduced funding from central government.

"We understand how important adult social care services are to residents, and that's why this consultation hasn't been taken lightly.

"To protect these essential frontline services, we are proposing changes to our adult social care charging policy to bring it in line with approaches already adopted by many other councils."

Bin