DEVON County Council is looking at its meals on wheels service as part of a cost-cutting measure.

The council is considering ways to give people choice about the meals they pay for, as its contract with meal's service provider, 'apetito', is set to end in July.

Ending the contract could save the council almost £540,000 over the next three years, and could represent a significant shift from being a provider of a meals service to being a signposter to meals provided locally in the community, or delivered frozen to people's homes.

The council said there will be no change to their eligibility criteria, and that everyone eligible for their meals service will still continue to receive support.

The council is this month consulting with people in receipt of their meals service on new proposals.

The council currently subsidises the cost of hot meals by more than half so that people pay just £4 per hot meal rather than £8.48.

As the number of people having meals falls, the cost to the council to run the service increases significantly, meaning the current service is unsustainable.

The council now wants to allow the current contract with apetito to end as scheduled in July and provide people with advice and information about local meals options.

Also to invest in voluntary sector support to help people if necessary to reheat frozen meals in their home or find a hot meals provider, such as local lunch clubs or community cafés, and to stop its subsidies for hot meals, although there will still be no charge for those in the eligibility criteria.

Cllr Stuart Barker, Devon County Council's cabinet member with responsibility for adult social care, said: 'A survey last year told us that 43 per cent of people who chose to stop having meals on wheels did so because they have started to receive meals from somewhere else.

'The independent community meals market has increased as more older people look to access meals in the community.

'It shows that there are options available, and therefore we want to explore them as an alternative.'

Having already saved £100-million over the last four years, Devon County Council faces saving another £110-million over the next four years.