Welcome to the Scottish Disability Equality Forum
Community Care Charges
COSLA has published their guidance to local councils on charging for care services.
Thank you to everyone who completed our survey, we have now submitted our response to COSLA and you can read the SDEF response online.
The main comment from our members was that care charging should not be a postcode lottery, enforceable national standards must be set.
Our colleagues at Learning Disability Alliance Scotland have undertaken some research that shows how much care charges can vary across Scotland.
As you can see from the details below there is a significant difference in the cost per hour for personal services. The lowest is £7.76 per hour in West Lothian and the highest is £22.10 per hour in Angus. This amounts to a very substantial sum of money that a person using care services could face.
| Local Authority Area | Cost |
|---|---|
| Angus | £22.10 |
| Glasgow City | £16.08 |
| Highland | £16.08 |
| Western Isles | £15.45 |
| Aberdeen City | £15.05 |
| West Dunbartonshire | £14.70 |
| Argyll and Bute | £14.60 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | £14.52 |
| North Lanarkshire | £14.50 |
| East Dunbartonshire | £14.00 |
| Renfrewshire | £13.88 |
| Scottish Borders | £12.80 |
| City of Edinburgh | £12.50 |
| East Ayrshire | £11.55 |
| Clackmannanshire | £11 |
| East Renfrewshire | £11 |
| Fife | £11 |
| North Ayrshire | £11 |
| Moray | £10.70 |
| Inverclyde | £10.64 |
| Perth and Kinross | £10.40 |
| East Lothian | £10.32 |
| Aberdeenshire | £10 |
| Dundee City | £10 |
| South Lanarkshire | £9.89 |
| Stirling | £9.60 |
| Falkirk | £9 |
| Midlothian | £9 |
| South Ayrshire | £8.60 |
| West Lothian | £7.76 |
| Orkney Islands | £ n/a |
| Shetland Islands | £ n/a |
More details are available on the campaign section of Learning Disability Alliance Scotland's website. This includes details of how much of a person's 'spare' income can be claimed in charges.
