02/03/06 Care fees refunds 'to cost millions'
JONATHAN LESSWARE
MILLIONS of pounds may be spent by Scottish councils on refunding elderly people illegally charged for personal care.
The Scotsman has learned that Dumfries and Galloway Council is deciding whether to pay back about £500,000 to pensioners it billed for food preparation that should have been free.
The Community Care (Scotland) Act introduced in 2002 said elderly people should not pay for the service, but Scottish Executive guidance mistakenly said they should.
This week The Scotsman revealed local authorities were facing a wave of legal challenges from pensioners who were still not getting the service for free.
The charity Alzheimer Scotland accused 13 councils of following incorrect Executive guidance despite revised advice in 2004 telling them not to charge.
Dumfries and Galloway Council decided to review whether to refund pensioners and in a meeting of its education and community services committee on Tuesday a figure of £411,000 was given although this was expected to rise considerably.
Allan Wright, leader of the Tory group and a committee member, said the money should be paid back. "If it's illegal today it was illegal when they started charging and it's logical people should be refunded," he said.
Alex Fergusson, MSP for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale, who has fought the charges, said: "If you take the potential figure in Dumfries and Galloway and look at it across Scotland we are clearly looking at millions that should now be paid back.
"The blame lies firmly with the Scottish Executive who have underfunded the policy and the councils have taken advantage of the confused guidance."
Yesterday it emerged that an Edinburgh pensioner received a refund of about £1,500 after her case was taken up by former Scottish Tory leader David McLetchie MSP.
A letter from Edinburgh City Council cited the Executive's revised 2004 advice as a reason for the decision to repay her. A relative, who did not want to be named, said: "It's a lot of money for a 92-year-old. They shouldn't have started charging in the first place. It's supposed to be free and everyone should now be refunded."
Mr McLetchie has since written to the council, asking if charges for meal preparation across the authority will be stopped and whether all those charged would receive a refund.
Last night the Edinburgh Pentlands MSP said: "Councils should look at cases where people have been wrongly charged and they should be fully reimbursed as with the case of my constituent."
Bill King, Edinburgh City Council's manager of home- based services, who ordered the refund, denied it had changed its own policy of providing free meal preparation if the person is being cared for seven days a week. He said the repayment was due to a mistake.
So far, only Western Isles Council has refunded OAPs who were wrongly charged.
Jim Jackson, Alzheimer Scotland chief executive, said: "Those who have had to pay for the service should be given a refund.
"If people are charged they ought to be entitled to compensation," he said. "It would have to be looked at on a case by case basis. It seems terribly unfair where the legislation is clear and local authorities have interpreted it wrongly that people have to pay."
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Scottish Executive are currently in talks to resolve the confusion.
From (thescotsman.scotsman.com)