AN elderly carer claims pensioners have been left living on the breadline with the soaring cost of looking after dependent relatives.

Now she has taken her crusade to Westminster. Marie Creeney, who gave up her job at Lancashire County Council seven years ago to look after her husband Frank, who has suffered a stroke, said the only support she has received came in the form of two nurses, who helped Frank in and out of bed morning and night.

Marie had to turn down their help when the county council introduced new means-testing rules which meant that older people with savings of £16,000 must pay £9 per hour for the service.

She claims there are dozens of elderly people across the area who, because they have scrimped and saved all their lives for security in their old age, are being told they will have to pay for the cost of their care.

Last week she travelled to London to present her case to MPs, telling them of horror stories, including:

A frail 82-year-old woman who is now caring for her husband, who has Parkinson's Disease, on her own after being told she would have to pay for care;

A 78-year-old man who can no longer have help in bathing his wife, who is paralysed from the neck down, unless he pays helpers £9 an hour;

A war veteran suffering from MS, whose wife must continue working to help pay for his care.

Other cases Marie is supporting include pensioners who are continuing to pay for the service, but are buying less food and cannot afford to heat the house.

Marie said: "It just isn't possible to pay £9 an hour, even if you have savings of £16,000, because it won't last.

"Many pensioners have saved all their lives for a little bit of security in their old age and the county council wants to take this away and leave pensioners vulnerable. It's like we're being punished."

And while the means-testing applies to all disabled people, it is the older population who seem to suffer most.

She added: "Younger people can tap into other benefits.

"This cost-cutting at county hall is putting old people at risk." A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "We are aware of Mrs Creeney's campaign and are listening to what she has to say."

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