A LEADING Liberal Democrat councillor has hit back at claims the council tried to quietly sneak through a hike in care charges without debate.

Clr Roy Smith, Warrington Borough Council's executive member for community services, says that the council did all it could to consult with residents over the changes which will save social services around £1m.

From October 1 everyone who needs non-residential care will have to pay charges once their income exceeds a certain level as well as paying £1.50 per single journey for assisted transport.

The move was criticised by Warrington Labour party leader Terry O'Neill who said the changes had been brought in without enough consultation.

But in response, Clr Smith said: "Clr O'Neill's cynical and opportunistic rant on this conveniently ignores a few facts which he would have been aware of if he had bothered to read the Executive Board paper.

"The charges we have brought in are in line with the Labour Government's fairer charging guidelines which were issued in 2003. The council has been criticised in inspection reports for not following these guidelines.

"Far from sneaking unpopular measures through without debate, a widespread consultation was carried out with users of services and with care providers over a number of weeks. I took no pleasure in proposing the introduction of these charges, but they will be based on ability to pay and every user of the services will be individually assessed.

"The issue of transport charges is difficult. Officers are in discussions with Warrington Borough Transport to try to resolve the problem. However, the consultation clearly showed that people would prefer a separate charge for transport."