ANXIOUS carers in Okehampton faced with new charges for day care services are taking their protest campaign to the top ? they are calling for people to write to Prime Minister Tony Blair with their concerns.
Carers, whose dependents attend the Leaze in Okehampton, are outraged at proposed new charges for transport, lunch and drinks, plus costs of the day care service itself.
Nell McAllen is a 70-year-old widow who has two daughters ? one of whom is in residential care, the other, who is 44, she cares for full-time at home.
She has written to Mr Blair about the new fees and is urging other parents to do the same.
Mrs McAllen said: ?I just can?t afford this. What makes me so angry is that I save the government thousands of pounds by keeping my daughter at home with me and now me and others like me are being penalised, making us pay for the privilege of using the Leaze ? I think it?s disgusting.?
Mrs McAllen said the majority of parents and carers whose dependents use the Leaze were elderly with limited financial means.
She said her daughter has already been forced to cut her attendance from five days to just two and she was worried about how they would cope financially.
She said the type of facilities needed by her daughter, who cannot read, write or even wash herself and is incapable of living independently, were very restricted in Okehampton.
?We have only one respite bed available and we have to pay for that anyway. She went in for a week recently because I was ill and now I?m waiting for that bill to come in,? said Mrs McAllen.
She said there were more than 40 clients using the Leaze at present.
?There?s going to be an awful lot of people affected by this ? it?s impossible, we just have to try and fight this,? she said.
Michael Allen, chairman of Okehampton Parents? and Carers? Group, said: ?This is a big problem and there are a lot of very worried people out there. It?s being brought in under the banner of a national initiative called fairer charging, but that?s absolutely a misnomer.?
He said carers would be faced with bills they could not afford and compared the situation to a ?ticking time bomb?, predicting gradually increasing demand for full time residential care as carers ?break under the strain? of looking after their loved ones.
West Devon and Torridge MP John Burnett, who attended a meeting with carers and students of the Leaze recently, said social services were ?desperately underfunded? by central government.
He said Devon County Council was in an invidious position but was in danger of ?shooting itself in the foot? by imposing the new, means-tested charges.
?I will be raising this again with the county ? they must value carers and not undermine them ? they actually save the government vast amounts of money.
?The Leaze is a fantastic place which deals with the most vulnerable members of our society. It and other centres like it simply have to be funded properly. I shall be writing to the minister concerned and we shall continue to fight for fair funding.?
A spokesman for Devon County Council said: ?The Government has asked all local authorities across the UK to introduce a ?Fairer Charging? initiative, designed to encourage consistency and fairness in the way people are charged for non-residential social services.
?In line with this, Devon County Council consulted with the public last autumn, before the initiative was to be introduced this year.
?The key aspect of the charging is that, with the exception of flat-rate charges for lunches, drinks and travel, they are means-tested. This means that charges are connected to people?s ability to pay.?
The £2.50 charge for lunch, £1 for drinks and £1 transport fee has already been introduced. The £5 per day means-tested charge is due to be imposed in October.