 Many pensioners were charged for food preparation |
The new administration of Dumfries and Galloway Council has announced it is to repay controversial care charges which were imposed on pensioners. It follows a long-running debate in the region over liability for food preparation bills under the Scottish Executive's free personal care policy.
In one case a 94-year-old woman was being charged �60-a-week because her care worker helped make her toast.
A report has now been sought to allow "immediate payment" of the refunds.
A budget of �1.5m was set aside by the council earlier this year in order to meet the repayments.
Council leader Conservative Ivor Hyslop said the situation had taken too long to resolve.
'Right thing'
"It is completely unacceptable that this mistake has taken so long to correct," he said.
"We are now determined to take the action necessary to do the right thing by our region's elderly.
"I have written to the chief executive of the council asking him to bring forward a report to the first meeting of the social work services committee to authorise immediate payment."
Chief executive Phil Jones confirmed a report was being prepared on how to make repayments.
"This piece of work is ongoing and will be reported back to council as soon as it is completed," he said.
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