Elderly and disabled adults are beginning to stop using vital care facilities after huge increases in charges left them unable to pay, it has been claimed.

Patient forum Wandsworth Link said it had started receiving complaints from "anxious" day care service users, who have reduced their attendance at day centres or stopped going altogether after prices for a session rose from £12.40 to £32.60.

Wandsworth Link executive member, Roger Appleton, fears the increased cost for day care and home care services will result in more and more frail and elderly service users facing social isolation.

Wandsworth Council officially introduced a new charging system - based on individual financial assessments it says will not affect those on the lowest incomes - on April 1, but a delay in the assessment process has meant the reality is only now hitting home.

According to Mr Appleton, of 3,000 recipients of social care, 270 have completed their financial assessments - with some being given retrospective bills for use of services since April.

Pensioner Colin White, who has arthritis and attends the Church Lane Day Centre, in Tooting, said: “When I got the letter about the new charges I was shocked. I just can't afford it.

"I used to come three days - now just one. I have to come on Thursdays because I can't bath myself and they give me a bath here."

A 77-year-old Tooting resident claimed her home care charges had rocketed from £32 per week to £71 per week - but is refusing to pay the retrospective charges she was billed for.

She said: "We are supposed to pay the extra charges from April because the computer was down. Why should I pay for their problem?

"They call themselves the brighter borough - I call them the tighter borough."

Rachel Corry, chief executive of Age Concern Wandsworth, said the charity was also hearing from worried elderly residents.

She said: "People haven't been able to budget for these increases and they are considering stopping the care.

"It's going to have a huge impact on lots of our older people. We have had people who have come to see us from not paying any charges at all to £70-a-week."

A council spokesman stressed "a very extensive consultation" over the changes had taken place, adding councils across the country were having to make care contribution changes to cut costs.

He said: “The new arrangements mean that some people, who are better off, are being asked to pay more. Those on the lowest incomes will see no change or a reduction in the amount they pay.

"Reassessment of all service users' contributions has taken some time and we apologise if the delay has caused individual difficulties.

"We will of course do everything we can to help anybody in difficulties and anyone who has received a backdated bill can of course pay off the balance gradually and in way they can afford."

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