From: Notts UNISON
To: Local Media
For: Immediate use
UNISON, the biggest union at Nottinghamshire County Council, is calling on County Councillors to reconsider their plans to increase home care charges in the County.
Jill Turner, Branch Secretary for UNISON, said “The Council has proposed to increase hourly charges from £7 per hour to £8.50 per hour; this is an increase of 21%. The maximum charge will increase from £56 to £75 per week; this is an increase of 34%. These charges will generate around £500,000. It is extremely worrying that the most vulnerable in our society are being targeting for higher increases than everyone else. How can the Council make these increases of up to 34% when keeping council tax increases to 4%?”
UNISON has calculated that increasing the Council Tax by 4.2% rather than the 4% proposed would generate an additional £540000, more than enough to cover the increases in home care charges, and it would only cost an extra 3p a week at Band B which covers the majority of homes in Notts.
“We believe that the people of Notts would be willing to pay a few pence extra to stop these increases in charges on the elderly and disabled who rely on this service. We are asking the people of Notts to ring their County Council on 0845 330 4219 to say so before the Councillors make up their minds on 21st Feb” said Ms Turner.
The increases in Home care charges are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to budget cuts in Notts. Other areas under threat include support for sheltered employment, reducing staff in Trading Standards, delaying library refurbishments as well as cutting nearly 130 jobs across the County Council.
“These job cuts come on top of those announced last year. If this many jobs were at risk in a hospital, people would rightly be up in arms. If they were at risk in a firm in Notts, local Councillors would want the Economic Development Team to step in to see what help could be given. The irony is that these are the people who were cut last year!” explained Ms Turner.
“An increase of 4.75% on the Council Tax would mean 12p a week extra on band B but would nearly halve the cuts in services and safeguard the jobs at risk. So please ring your Council on 0845 330 4219 to say that you are willing to pay a few pence extra week to save jobs and services in your community.
“UNISON is taking out adverts in the local press asking people to ring the County Council. We think that it is important that people let their Councillors know that a few pence extra a week is a price worth paying for our public services”
ENDS
For more information, ring the Branch Office on 0115 981 0405 or e-mail us
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