Cuts to a 24/7 emergency helpline for elderly North Yorkshire residents have been pushed through without consulting users of the service, say critics.
North Yorkshire Council is overhauling its Lifeline service with the aim of ensuring a consistent and sustainable service across the county.
Changes were drawn up by officers and agreed by senior councillors from the Conservative administration.
But this decision was ‘called in’ by opposition members who said they were worried about its impact on vulnerable residents
The changes will mean monthly or quarterly visits by council staff to Lifeline users in the Richmondshire, Harrogate and Selby areas will become annual visits.
An enhanced service where council staff attend a user’s home after they sound the alarm will also be ended, while fees will be unified across the county.
The call-in was discussed by members of the council’s housing and leisure overview and scrutiny committee.
Councillor Stuart Parsons, independent councillor for Richmond, said residents in his division were “furious” about the changes.
“Okay, it may save tuppence but we’ve had a very, very successful relationship with the system that exists.
“We’ve had fantastic wardens who helped people massively.”
He added:
“I think it’s about time we listened to the people we’re supposed to care for rather than turning around and saying ‘this is it’ which is what’s happening.”
Labour councillor Steve Shaw-Wright, who represents Selby, told the meeting there had been more discussions about the colour of new waste bins than changes to the Lifeline service.
He added:
“There should have been far more consultation.
“We haven’t had consultation, or any meaningful consultation, with the users of the service, the families of those users, the third sector, the other organisations that could have been involved to assist in making the decision that this council made.”
But Councillor Cliff Lunn, Conservative councillor for the Thorpe Willoughby & Hambleton division, supported the changes.
He said:
“It’s something that we had to do with council tax, we unified things, and I think we’ve got to do it. There are winners and there losers, but we’ve got to put a unified cost-based system.”
Upper Dales Conservative Councillor Yvonne Peacock also welcomed a slight fall in the fee charged to Richmondshire residents for the service.
Andrew Rowe, assistant director for housing, told the meeting that it was not possible to keep some of the elements of the service without subsidy from taxpayers or the extra costs passed on to users.
He added:
“The additional elements to this service, so regular monthly visits on top of the basic, or a responder service, somebody presses the button and we’ve got staff on standby to out in the middle of the night to pick them up — the difficulty is these items don’t stack up financially for a council. That’s what a lot of this comes down to, the cost implications.”
Mr Rowe said the “costs would go through the roof” if the council was to provide a wider 24/7 responder service.
Councillor Andrew Murday, Liberal Democrat councillor for the Pateley Bridge and Nidderdale division, called for the decision to be considered by the full council,
But the committee instead voted for a proposal to ‘do nothing’.
This was passed by seven votes to six, with the Conservative members voting for and all other councillors voting against.
Cllr Murday said after the meeting:
“I strongly believe that major decisions affecting the lives of our residents should be made by elected councillors.
“If that is denied, we are on a slippery slope where government accountability is lost. This should be of concern to anyone who believes in the principles of our democracy.”
The service provides alarm support and responder services to help people continue to live in their own homes.
Prior to local government reorganisation in 2023, the service was run by district authorities.
Officials say this has meant variations in services being provided to residents, with some areas not offering any service.
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