HUNDREDS of people receiving council-funded home and day care services face a possible rise in charges.

Residents of care or nursing homes will be unaffected by the changes, which relate to the cost of day care centre sessions, of transport to and from centres, and allowances for 'disability-related expenses'.

Members of Bournemouth council's health and social care scrutiny panel will be discussing the new fee proposals on Thursday.

A report for their meeting by specialist services manager Anne Humphries reveals that service users could be as much as £90-a-week worse off.

"The demand and cost pressures on adult social care necessitate charges to be applied at a sufficient level to contribute to the sustainability of front-line care services," the report states.

"This is particularly important because the council is anticipating a reduction in devolved funding of £4 million for 2018/19 and a further reduction of £3.5m for 2019/20.

"There is also a need to respond to a £7.5m budget pressure for 2018/19.

"In light of this, three changes are proposed to raise the level of income for adult social care."

The council says it has not raised raised charges since 2012 and "consequently a number of updates are required to ensure the policy is modernised, consistent with other local authorities, including those neighbouring Bournemouth, and maximises the income that helps to protect front-line care services".

Residents receiving home care can currently automatically deduct certain expenses – those deemed disability-related – from their income when being means tested to determine what they will pay.

The borough is proposing that these exemptions are made discretionary, affecting some 402 people. Of these 300 face a possible rise in weekly payments of between £10 and £60 per week. One service-user could see their costs rise by as much as £90 per week.

Discretionary services would include electricity and gas, medical charges, wheelchair costs, incontinence products, gardening costs, cleaning products, stairlift maintenance and transport costs – excluding visits to spouses in care homes.

The planned new means-tested transport to day centres cost is up from £7.97 to £10.49 per journey, which the council says is "the actual cost of the service".

This is expected to affect 77 people with increases of up to £30 per week.

Currently day care centre attendance costs between £40 and £74 per day, depending on 'needs' level. The borough plans to raise this to £70 for everyone, which again it says is "based on the actual cost of providing the service".

The move is expected to affect 39 people, most of whom will see their fees increase by between £10-40.

The report also suggests the changes will be unpopular with service users.

A consultation survey found that only between 26-32 per cent of service users and carers 'agree' the council plan is reasonable. And 61 per cent of service users expected the plans to have a major impact on their lives.

A separate 'residents' panel' was between 53-69 per cent in favour.