The Councillor responsible for adult social care in Rotherham has defended the decision to increase prices, calling it ‘the right decision’.
The price rises are for various adult services as part of the council’s budget for the 2025-26 financial year.
Councillor Joanna Baker Rogers said: “If you look at our charges over the last few years, they’ve really not increased much at all. So on this occasion, we’ve decided that we do need to increase the cost of adult social care services.”
The main increases could see the cost of day care service more than double, from £36.60 to £73.50, to ensure services which give ‘essential support to many vulnerable people’ remain available at the same quality.
Further price increases will include a 31.5% increase in the hourly rate for in-home domiciliary care, and a 28.6% increase in Rothercare, the council’s community alarm service.
But Coun. Baker Rogers says that the council is still prepared to support the most vulnerable.
She added: “Any cost increase is thought through very carefully, and we always want to make sure that everyone can afford to pay what they are asked to pay.”
Liberal Democrat Councillor Adam Carter said: “These fee increases are another example of Labour’s failure to protect the most vulnerable in our society.
“The Labour-run council is out of touch with the struggles of our communities…they are increasing costs for those who need the most support. This is not only unfair, but it’s an attack on the vulnerable.”
Councillors heard that the rises are part of the council’s wider effort to maintain quality and availability of services despite growing demand and rising costs.
Coun. Baker Rogers said: “It’s the right decision. What we could have done is we could have put council tax up by the full amount (4.99%), but we’ve chosen not to do that.”
The move comes as the government nationally announced significant cuts to benefits, including PIP payments, in sweeping cost-saving measures, expected to affect those in adult social care.
