SURREY County Council’s Lib Dems opposition group has called on the Equality & Human Rights Commission to investigate a “£1million” hike in adult social care charges for disabled residents.

In July, despite fierce public opposition the Conservative-run council’s cabinet agreed changes to the way in which it calculates adult social care charges for those on benefits such as personal independence payments, disability living allowance and attendance allowance.

Previously, residents in receipt of these benefits in Surrey had the first £27.20 of their benefit disregarded when the council was calculating their income.

But as of October 3, the full amount of their benefit must now be taken into account.

This means Surrey County Council will be charging disabled people more than £1 million a year extra for vital services, including help with personal tasks such as shopping and bathing, attendance at day services and respite care in residential accommodation.

The changes come amid a deepening crisis for adult social care services in the county, with Surrey expected to be spending an extra £20million on adult social care a year by 2020.

This has already been blamed by the council for a series of cutbacks, including the recent introduction of charges for non-household waste at many community recycling centres.

Addressing her letter to the Equality & Human Rights Commission, Lib Dems’ social care spokes-man Fiona White said: “I have three main concerns over the way in which these charges have been justified which I would like the commission to look at.

“Firstly, Surrey County Council has justified these increases by stating the charges make the service more sustainable and bring in extra money.

“But the council is over-reliant on expensive agency staff and has millions in reserves so extra money for adult social care could clearly be found from elsewhere.

“Secondly, the council has totally ignored the results of the consultation it held on this matter which totally devalues the nature of such an exercise and undermines the trust we have with our residents.

“People who responded to the consultation did so in good faith thinking their voices would be heard so it is wrong for the Tories to ignore them so flagrantly, and carry on regardless. 

“And lastly, I feel the equalities impact assessment (EIA) carried out by the council was poor and limited in its scope. Much more work should have been done in checking the impact that this reduction in income will have on some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

“The Equality Act (2010) gives protections to disabled people and places duties on bodies such as Surrey County Council not to discriminate.

“These charges target the benefits of disabled people and I look forward to hearing from the Equality & Human Rights Commission as to their opinion on this vital matter.”

A council spokesman said: “It’s vital people eligible for support receive the level of care they need despite the increasing demand pressures we are facing for adult social care so these changes only affect a minority of people while the majority of those living at home continue to receive support without having to make a contribution towards the cost of their care.

“The consultation we held into these changes shaped our final policy, which is now in line with many neighbouring authorities, and informed the equalities impact assessment.”