TOWN halls will lack the funding to turn the Government's “free care for the elderly” revolution into reality, charities warned yesterday.
Age Concern and Help the Aged threw doubt on flagship plans to fund everyday home help – such as getting up, dressing, washing and using the toilet – for around 280,000 of the neediest pensioners in England, from next October.
Cash-strapped councils would restrict care for some elderly people with dementia or Parkinson's disease – or push them into care homes unnecessarily to save money, they suggested.
There were also claims that nearly half of the 500,000 people currently receiving care at home would not receive any financial help.
The rows came after Gordon Brown hailed the Personal Care at Home Bill as the centrepiece of yesterday's Queen's Speech, the last before he faces the voters at the general election expected next May.
The measure – free to all, regardless of income – is designed to spare the elderly the ordeal of losing their home to pay for nursing help or residential care as they grow more frail. At present, anyone receiving such care at home is means-tested and those with assets over £23,500 are required to pay themselves.
In addition, around 130,000 people leaving hospital will receive free support, including the installation of stairlifts, "grab bars" in baths and alarms to alert an ambulance.
But the Department of Health (DoH) acknowledged that £250m of the £670m cost would have to be met by local authorities making "efficiency gains".
There are already accusations of a "postcode lottery", with many councils denying help to some elderly people who end up dependent on friends and relatives for help.
The newly-merged Age Concern and Help the Aged charity said it "warmly welcomed" the Bill as the "first step in ensuring a better deal" for older people.
But it warned: "It will be essential that councils are properly funded to provide this care, so there are no perverse incentives to either push older people into residential care homes earlier than needed, or assess their needs as not critical enough to warrant free care at home."
