Conservatives Double Meal-on-Wheels Charges

1.18.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 12th Apr 2009

Residents receiving meals-on-wheels in Essex are now paying a whopping £24.50 a week for their lunches. The Conservatives who run Essex County Council have nearly doubled the price of a meal over the 8 years that they have been

in power, making it difficult for some people to be able to afford to pay.

The Council's own research has shown that people who use the service are unhappy with the price hike.

Meals-on-wheels are a vitally important part of life for many people who are housebound, elderly or ill. Most of us take for granted the ability to prepare a cooked meal for ourselves, but for many people this is not possible and the meals-on-wheels service provides their only cooked meal of the day.

The Liberal Democrats asked the council to spend an extra £5.5 million on social services, which would have allowed the

cost of meals on wheels to be kept down. The Conservatives rejected the proposal, preferring to spend the money on staging conferences and overseas trips for councillors.