A WIRRAL man has spoken of his "outrage and upset" following the revelation that social services had been deliberately delaying action for vulnerable people.

James Robinson, from Birkenhead, was forced to watch his mother Esther slowly “deteriorate” after vital home help services were cut by the council.

And he has told of the struggle he and his family faced trying to fill in for the reduced level of care she received.

It comes as the new leader of Wirral Council, Jeff Green, discovered that adult social services had been operating an illegal and deliberate system whereby care packages were delayed by up to four weeks.

He is furious over the delay policy - and the council's denials that it existed - and had today pladged to set up a special team to investigate.

Mr Robinson’s mother passed away in September of 2009 but had seen her number of hours of care per month reduced from 107 to 45 while she was forced to up her payments from £157 to £208.

And Mr Robinson said he suspected foul play throughout his mother’s final months and now feels relieved and vindicated.

He said: “My mum had a home help during the last 10 years of her life following a serious stroke and her care package was gradually increased as she had more and more needs.

“But when the council decided to do away with home helps and go private, she saw a dramatic reduction in her hours of care and increase in costs.

"It meant she was no longer getting help with shopping, cleaning or laundry and she felt a burden on her family.

“I demanded that she be re-assessed but was forced to wait four weeks for this to actually happen.

“At the time we were told this was the standard waiting time but now we know they were doing it on purpose for the sake of saving a bit of money.”

Following Cllr Green’s revelations on the Globe’s website, shocked readers have flooded our message boards to vent their anger.

One commenter said: “Vulnerable adults have been put at risk because of this action and it is continuing as Wirral Borough Council ‘negotiate’ a further cut in what they will pay for care in private care homes.”

Another poster wrote: “Can it possibly get any worse? It really is time to dismiss without renumeration those responsible for what’s happening with the DASS department of Wirral Council.”

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