THE fact that our council is apparently threatening to turn some of its oldest and most vulnerable tenants over to its debt collection agency should be a cause for concern.
One of those affected, an 87-year-old lady living on the ageing Edward Woods Estate, is said to owe the authority more than £1,200 after she failed to pay weekly bills for home care or meet demands for monthly repayments of debt.
The octogenarian, whom opposition leader Stephen Cowan described as 'confused', paid back £106 but has not been stumping up the £26.73 per week she was told to begin paying last February.
Hammersmith and Fulham Council has every right to introduce care charges, in doing so bringing itself into line with the vast majority of authorities in the country.
But officers should perhaps exercise more compassion when the person is very old, and liable to feel deeply insecure when threatened over large debts.
While many living in the borough will find cause for celebration in the annual council tax cuts, the three per cent reduction will not make much difference to pensioners, who must now pay £1,300 a year more for carers who used to be provided free of charge.
