Elderly could be faced with ‘stark choice over eating or heating’ in winter months

Essex County CouncilEssex County Council has announced that a 6 week consultation will be conducted to understand the views of both existing service users and Essex residents on the proposal to remove the subsidy currently paid by the council to the Meals On Wheels service.

1.The contribution that all 1003 service users currently pay for the hot meals they receive is set at £3.95 for each meal with ECC paying an additional subsidy of 84p to cover the full cost of each meal. A previous policy review of the Meals On Wheels service carried out in 2011 by the Community Wellbeing and Older People Committee found that well over 80% of residents that used the Meals On Wheels service were aged 76 and over.

2. Current delivery partner, Sodexo, has continued provision of the Meals On Wheels service, which includes the delivery of hot meals directly to residents with the addition of a ‘safe and well’ check where delivery drivers check on the well-being of customers.

3. These checks can act as an ‘early warning system’ as it means vulnerable people receive frequent visits allowing for a preventative measure to be in place to ‘avoid more costly admissions to hospital’.

4. In response to the announcement, Deputy Leader of the County Labour Group, Cllr Ivan Henderson, said;

“If the 84p subsidy for each hot meal were to be passed on to the resident, a user who receives a meal 5 days a week all year round from this service would need to find an extra £218 a year to continue receiving meals. This is on top of careful spending of winter fuel payments which are vital for the most vulnerable elderly residents in Essex.

“If adopted by the Conservative Administration, this cruel policy could force pensioners to make a choice in some cases of whether to pay the increase for a hot meal or to break into their annual heating allowances which would take a large chunk of their heating money. It could be a stark choice of whether they eat or heat their home in winter months.”

“There are revenue spends such as free Members lunches which could be used to help reduce the burden of passing the cost on to this vulnerable group of residents (5). The annual spend (£31,198) by the council on Member lunches alone could easily subsidise every user of Meals On Wheels in the Tendring District who receives a hot meal 5 times a week (6).

“It was only last week that the council had stated publicly that they were in a better position financially to stop the school patrol crossing cuts – I urge the Conservative Administration to think carefully about carrying out this painful policy”.

(1)     Consultation with service users ends 7th July 2014.

(2)     Service Review June 2011 (page 8)

(3)     Cabinet Report Sodexo contract (page 2/3)

(4)     Cabinet Report Sodexo contract (page 2/3)

(5)     ECC045508-14 (FOI – annual spend of free Member lunches)

(6)    Table below shows Meals On Wheels service user distribution

 

Basildon 131
Braintree 102
Brentwood 71
Castle Point 79
Chelmsford 137
Colchester 97
Epping Forest 58
Harlow 27
Maldon 42
Rochford 73
Tendring 104
Uttlesford 82
TOTAL 1003

For further information contact:
Cllr Ivan Henderson, Deputy Leader of County Labour Group – TEL: 07889 367822