Lawyers to challenge OAP meals cutbacks
LAWYERS are preparing a High Court challenge to Rotherham Council's decision to axe meals on wheels for hundreds of elderly and infirm residents.
Solicitors say they could use disability discrimination and human rights laws to force the council to reinstate the "lifeline" service.
The council is also facing claims it failed to consult its 600 customers – or the 12 staff whose jobs are at risk – before announcing meals on wheels would be axed.
The decision, to be implemented by July, is to save the authority 92,000 a year or 153 per person.
Today solicitor Yogi Amin, public law specialist at Sheffield firm Irwin Mitchell, confirmed he is to represent grandmother-of-three Enid Dench, aged 85, of Highfield Grove, Brampton, and others in a joint action.
He said Rotherham Council has a duty under the Disability Discrimination Act to consider the needs of disabled people, and that British human rights law requires the council to provide services that meet people's needs.
The firm plans to apply to the council to freeze its decision and hold a proper consultation. If it refuses, the case could be heard at the High Court in London within weeks. A High Court judge would then have the power to issue legal guidelines effectively ordering Rotherham Council to maintain the service.
Mr Amin said: "It seems wrong to cut a service and then look at people's needs. I also can't see the justification for the council spending on certain other services when we would argue this is a vital one at the high end of priorities.
"If other people are affected by this and are concerned they should come forward now. There is a short time, a few weeks, in which to raise this."
Enid's son David Dench said he believed the council should be held to account.
The 65-year-old's mother, who has dementia, receives meals on wheels because she can no longer safely use an oven, and without them her diet would be severely limited, he said.
He told The Star: "I would imagine that, of the 600 customers, all would like to keep it going – that's a class action straight away. I'm a great believer in democracy and I certainly think the council should have to explain itself to the electorate.
"How can a so-called socialist local authority remove a vital service like this from such a vulnerable group? There are a lot of people with no-one and meals on wheels is their biggest lifeline.
"The cost is negligible compared to some schemes the council has come up with and the clients could not be more deserving.
"What could be more important than eating?"
Irwin Mitchell has been behind two successful judicial reviews which forced public bodies to change controversial policies. In 2007 Wiltshire Primary Care Trust began funding breast cancer drug Herceptin following a High Court ruling, and last year Warwickshire PCT reversed a decision not to fund eye-sight saving drug Lucentis.
A spokeswoman for Rotherham Council said leader Coun Roger Stone would respond to legal action "as and when it occurred".
Council chiefs say meals on wheels is falling in popularity – down by 250 to 600 in the last year. Frozen meals delivered weekly are cheaper, typically 2.50 compared to 4.10, and the authority has to make its money go further because of an expected increase in the number of elderly people.
A Rotherham Council spokeswoman said: "No-one will be left without provision.
"Each customer will be provided with clear, accessible information about a range of providers who will provide better choice, quality and price."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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