COUNCIL leader Dave Watts travelled to London this week on a mission to fight for more cash for children and elderly people in St Helens.

Together with St Helens Council's chief executive, Carole Hudson, he met senior minister David Curry to lobby for more money for Care in the Community. An independent review by Kent University has revealed that authorities like St Helens and its Merseyside counterparts have lost huge sums of money in Government grant aid.

To make matters worse, according to the council team, instead of a needs-based approach to funding, the Government used out-of-date criteria which did not take into account special needs of people over 85, poorer members of the community in receipt of Income Support and Attendance Allowance, elderly people living alone and those with long-term illnesses.

Says Councillor Watts: "If, say Attendance Allowance was introduced as an indicator for grant aid, and it was combined with a living alone allowance, backed by economic weighting it would greatly benefit many areas currently struggling to provide essential care services.

"St Helens has a high percentage of elderly people, many suffering from long-term illness caused by an essentially industrial working environment.

"The situation is critical in St Helens where the council faces Government under-funding of £7.4 million. Faced with such a massive shortfall it is essential that ministers re-think their funding for the Care in the Community programme."

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