UK Edition
The slow death of meals on wheels has been revealed, as figures show half of councils no longer provide the service for pensioners.
Analysis by the Telegraph reveals 77 out of 147 councils across the UK do not provide a meals on wheels service at all, as campaigners fear the move is isolating the elderly.
The collapse in the meals on wheels services have taken place at some of the biggest local authorities in the UK, including Birmingham and Manchester, which ended provision in 2012.
In all, 400,000 fewer meals are now being distributed annually as opposed to five years ago, when nearly three million meals were delivered by councils.
Figures obtained by the Telegraph show 45 councils have cut their provision over the period 2015 to 2019, while just six councils have increased meals on wheels provision.
Three councils – Plymouth, Nottingham and Leicestershire – have raised their prices by over 100 per cent in that period, to £6.50, £5.40 and £9,60 a meal respectively between 2011 and 2020.
In England, Kent County Council cut its meals on wheels from over 88,000 a year in 2015 to just under 7,000 in 2019. Ealing cut its annual provision from over 5,200 meals a year in 2015 to zero in 2019, when it completely stopped the service.
In Coventry, the number of meals on wheels services provided annually also halved, from over 26,000 meals in 2015/16 to just over 13,000 in 2019/20, and in Peterborough the figure fell from 16,200 to just over 8,100 meals a year.
In Scotland, meals on wheels were cut to zero from more than 2,500 a year in Argyll & Bute, while they fell from over 57,000 a year to just over 34,000 a year in the Scottish Borders between 2015 and 2019.
Cuts were also savage in Wales, with annual meals on wheels services falling from 45,000 altogether in Carmarthenshire before the service was shut in 2018, and dropping from nearly 63,000 in Monmouthshire in 2015 to fewer than 52,000 in 2019.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “Meals on Wheels is an absolute lifeline and a crucial service for many older people, not just making sure they have a regular meal but providing some social contact too.
"For older people who are isolated or living alone a brief friendly chat with the person delivering their meal will often be the only conversation they have with anyone all day, and this in itself is hugely valuable and much appreciated."
She added: "Making sure older people are well nourished is vital if they are to stay well and live independently and this very well established service definitely helps with that.
"Cognitive decline and other health issues can also be contributing factors. The end result is that we know older people on their own will sometimes just forget to eat and before long this can become a really serious threat to their health."
Ian Hudspeth, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, added: “Councils have played a vital role throughout the coronavirus pandemic, in particular in supporting those who have been shielding, working alongside the NHS, local communities and volunteers to protect those most vulnerable to the virus and who have been isolating.
“We have long warned that the services which older and vulnerable people rely on, including meals on wheels, are coming under increasing pressure due to the underfunding of adult social care.
"Councils are doing all they can to protect their social care services, but are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the level and quality of care that people deserve.
“Social care deserves parity of esteem with the NHS. This needs to be backed up by a genuine, long-term and sustainable funding settlement for adult social care, which we have been calling for long before the current crisis.
“We look forward to the beginning of promised cross-party talks on the future of adult social care, as soon as possible.”
A Government spokesman said: “We want people to stay healthy and independent for as long as possible. It is up to councils to determine whether they offer this service and we have provided them with access to an additional £1.5 billion for adults and children’s social care in this financial year.
"We have also made £3.7 billion available to local authorities so they can address pressures on local services caused by the pandemic, including in adult social care.”