Tories will cut budgets for adult services

1.47.43pm GMT Tue 26th Jan 2010

Lib Dems want to protect adult services

Cllr David Ward has hit out at Tory proposals to axe over £5m from the budget for Adult Services. He said,

" This budget is under huge pressure with people living longer, an increasing number of people with learning difficulties and people requiring more care as they get older. They need £5.5m to cope with everything from adults with learning difficulties and school leavers with physical disabilities to continuing care for older people.

The director has come up with ways to find this money but many of them are unacceptable including cuts for the voluntary sector and increased charges for home care. Yet the Conservative Group appear to have accepted them without question.

There have been concerns recently about the standard of care offered to residents of care homes including three deaths which have been investigated. The last thing we need is to cut Adult Services so severely that they can't do what we expect them to do.

The Liberal Democrats are carefully exploring every cut suggested by the director and we won't accept them unless we are convinced the service will not suffer now or in the future."