Price hike planned for lifeline service helping vulnerable people in Dudley
Dudley Council is planning an inflation-busting price hike for a lifeline phone service helping vulnerable people get emergency help.
A meeting of the authority’s Social Care and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee on February 4 is set to debate proposals to increase charges for its Telecare service by 9.8 percent.
Council officers say the rise is required to plug a predicted black hole in the next financial year’s budget for the service of nearly half-a-million pounds.
A report for the committee signed by Emma Matthews, Dudley director of adult social care, said: “The Telecare Service operates within a challenging financial context. The Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) savings and income shortfall combined is £0.487m for 2026/27.
“A detailed options appraisal, followed by further discussion with service leads and finance, has been undertaken to identify realistic and deliverable options to improve financial sustainability while protecting the preventative nature of the service.”
Telecare operates 24-hours a day, 356 days a year, providing a monitoring and response service for people living independently.
The service provides a range of ‘assistive technology’ equipment linked to a monitoring centre which can provide emergency help and contact relatives or carers.
Currently the service costs £23.40 plus VAT per month plus a £30 plus VAT one-off installation charge, discounts may be available to people on low incomes.
The service can also support other council services including repairs management, monitoring emergency situations like fire alarm activations and social care help escalations for children and adults.
Councillors will be presented with a range of options to fill the budget shortfall but officers say increasing charges is the preferred choice.
The report said: “Implementation will be phased, with the new charging approach initially applied to new customers first, followed by a planned approach for existing customers.
“The indicative start date proposed is 1 April 2026.”
