Lancashire's respite care recipients will have to pay full cost of short breaks for unpaid carers if they have the cash

It comes in the wake of a change to the way in which Lancashire County Council charges for its short breaks programme after the authority was told that it was not complying with government legislation on the issue.

The authority previously charged a flat fee for respite care - such as day centre facilities or longer, overnight breaks - of £116.20 per week. However, a Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) ruling in 2021 found that County Hall should instead by carrying out a financial assessment of short break service users to determine exactly what they could afford to contribute.

There are almost 38,000 so-called “informal carers” in Lancashire, but only 600-700 have sought respite care from the authority.

An overhaul of the system last year, in response to the LGO decision. led to the majority of those individuals actually paying less for short breaks than they used to. But in order to temporarily shield those for whom the new arrangements would have meant an increase in their bills - and while the shake-up was properly communicated to them - the county council put a cap on costs, equivalent to its previous standard charge.

Now, the authority’s cabinet has approved the removal of that cap, meaning that those with the necessary means will have to pay for their respite care in full as of next month.

The county council - which provides adult social care in all parts of Lancashire except Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen - estimates that around 90 people will now be liable for full costs.

For approximately 60 of them, their short break fees will increase by an average of between £300 and £400 per week of respite care, while for around 30 others, they will go up by £80 per week. The rest will see either no change or a reduction in costs.

Graham Gooch, cabinet member for adult social care at County Hall, told the meeting at which the change was agreed that it would not only make the authority compliant with the Care Act, but also “promote equity of access, based on the means test”.

He added: “Short breaks are intended to provide care and support to meet the needs of the [cared-for] person, which then in turn supports the carer in their role.

“Examples of the sort of service we can provide are day care, where the cared-for person go[es] off and attend[s] a service and participates in activities away from home, thus enabling the carer to have a break, which is often very necessary.

“There's [also] a day-sitting service, which enables the carer, for example…[to] go shopping, watch Preston North End, meet friends or have time to do other things that they want to do.,” explained County Cllr Gooch. He said that an equivalent overnight service, designed to give carers an undisturbed night's.sleep, was little used.

He also stressed that the short break service was a “strength-based” one, which focused on “what the person can do for themselves” and the support that they might have around them - including in the wider community.

“You don't want to take people’s abilities away from them,” he said.