CHESHIRE East Council's Labour group has defended charging the over 85s for a lifeline care system they have been receiving for free.

The council's adults and health committee approved the controversial plans yesterday (Monday).

Currently, residents who are over 85 and live alone don't pay for assistive technology, which includes the likes of fall detectors and pendant alarms which are triggered when someone needs help.

But councillors voted by 10 votes to three to start charging £5 a week for the service for the over 85s, the same that is paid by those under 85.

Conservative group leader Janet Clowes described the proposal as a "false economy" and said: "There are 12,300 people aged 85 plus in the borough, 43 per cent of which are estimated to fall each year.

"You only need about 30 people to fall, have a hospital admission and to be sent to long term care to actually rack up about £1m – four times the amount it's intended to save through this particular proposal."

She added: "And I think that to say that it is unfair, is extraordinarily naive. We will end up paying far more for these people, which actually will direct resources away from those people who are not 85."

Knutsford councillor Stewart Gardiner said the system came about through the Better Care Fund and the objective was to help local authorities and health providers to come up with ways of reducing hospital admissions.

"If you are over 85 and live in Wilmslow or over 85 and living in Crewe, you will still have to go to hospital that's funded from the NHS, and the purpose of this scheme is to reduce the pressure on the NHS by reducing the number of people who have to go into hospital with falls," he said.

He added that if someone over 85 could no longer afford the technology, had a fall and spent time in hospital and respite care as a result, that used up NHS funds.

But the Labour group says the previous system had resulted in "discrimination". In Crewe 39 per cent of users receive free telecare, compared to 68 per cent of users in Alderley Edge, 66 per cent in Mobberley and 57 per cent in Prestbury, it says.

After the meeting Sandbach Labour councillor Kathryn Flavell said: "The new policies will help us reduce health inequalities across the borough. It is extremely concerning that there is a 12 year difference in life-expectancy between the more affluent and more deprived areas of the borough.

"It will provide free telecare to those who need it based on the ability to pay, not on the basis of age. Nobody who needs telecare, but can't afford it, will have to pay, whatever their age.

"Assistive technology can also reduce the reliance on long-term care by improving services closer to home."

The new system will be means tested and committee chair, Crewe North councillor Jill Rhodes, stressed that anybody who couldn't afford to pay wouldn't have to pay.