East Ayrshire pensioners lose out on £2million

Jul 25 2008 by Stef Lach, Kilmarnock Standard

HUNDREDS of pensioners charged a total of £1.9million for ‘free’ personal care after a council blunder won't be refunded.

East Ayrshire Council was one of a number in Scotland who misunderstood the terms of the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 which stated personal services, such as food preparation for the elderly in their own homes, should be free of charge.

Instead, they charged the 675 people who needed the help £1.9m – an average of £2815 per person. In September 2006, the Scottish Government instructed councils to stop charging for the services.

Edinburgh City Council and Dumfries and Galloway refunded all the money and the Borders local authority went as far as to seek out family members of anyone who may have died in the meantime to pass on the money to them – but East Ayrshire refused to follow suit and this week they repeated that stance.

They claim the £1.9m has since been spent as part of the overall social services budget.

One member of the public, Frank Birch, has fought tooth and nail to have the money paid back to everyone who was affected and he found an ally in Labour MSP Cathy Jamieson.

Frank told the Standard: “I’ve written countless letters to ask the council to do the right thing and they’ve not budged.

“They say they acted in good faith which they may well have done – but they are not painting themselves in a good light with their refusal to do the right thing.”

Cathy Jamieson agreed that the money should be refunded, and even offered to ask Scottish ministers to help foot the bill if necessary, only for the council to refuse yet again.

Cathy said: “I’ve done everything I possibly can to try get East Ayrshire Council to take up this case and to look at it from a moral point of view.

“I’ve no doubt they acted in good faith but when they were told they’d made the wrong decision and that the money should be refunded then they should have done that.

“I understand it would be difficult for them to come up with the money to pay back, but I offered to go to ministers to seek help in that regard but the council still wouldn’t take notice.

“East Ayrshire Council have since made four ex gratia payments to people who were incorrectly charged, suggesting anyone who made a claim might be successful.”

A council spokeswoman said this week: “At this point in time the council has no plans to review its position on the matter but notes that as many as four different bodies are, or have been, involved in reviewing various aspects of both this issue and the wider matter of whole Free Personal Care policy, including Lord Sutherland’s independent review group; Audit Scotland; a COSLA/ADSW review group and the Scottish Government itself.

“The council believes reviews should also take account of the historical position as regards charges for food preparation when determining future policy and allocating resources, and awaits with interest the outcome of these various review processes.

“The entirety of the income derived from clients has, quite properly, been subsumed into the social services budget and used to support the provision of vital services to clients. Consequently, there has been no sum set aside for reimbursement.”

Anyone who believes they or a family member hase been charged for the free services can write to social work chief Graham Short to see if they may be in line for an ex gratia payment.

Write to Graham Short, Director of Social Work Services, East Ayrshire Council HQ, London Road, Kilmarnock, KA3 7BU.