DISABLED people are being denied help with their basic needs by “unfair and damaging” social care charges, with one councillor admitting they are based on “no data, just vibes,” according to a report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published yesterday.

The research for the report, titled Time To End Social Care Charging In Scotland, was conducted by the Scottish Women’s Budget Group (SWBG), which spoke to people living with the charges as well as local authority workers who administer them.

Despite then SNP first minister Nicola Sturgeon pledging during the last Holyrood election campaign in 2021 that non-residential social care charging would be scrapped, the report found that, with next year’s elections approaching, no progress has been made towards this goal.

Researchers not only found “considerable variation” in charges for services — including help at home with laundry or shopping, day care, meals and lunch clubs — for people with similar needs across Scotland’s 32 councils but also that the charges were seriously damaging their quality of life.

One contributor said they had been forced to give up washing themselves every day, telling researchers: “If a human rights approach was taken, I should be able to shower every day.”

Another observed: “The financial context determines whether disabled people have human rights and are even able to be in charge of our own life.”

The charges, estimated to raise around £50 million a year in total, are also mired in complexity and “borne by a small group of people, some of whom are on very low incomes, to enable councils to set a balanced budget,” according to the report, which described charging policies as “unfair and damaging.”

Report co-author Sara Cowan of SWBG said: “This research shines a light on a complex system that disabled people are expected to navigate in order to access care.

“The income threshold levels above which people are expected to pay for their care are shockingly low and keep people in poverty.

“Politicians committed to ending charges and it’s time they stepped up and fulfilled the commitment.”

Glasgow Disability Alliance chief executive Tressa Burke added: “Social care charges are a backdoor tax that only disabled people pay. 

“We need a concerted effort by the Scottish government and [local government umbrella body] Cosla towards ending these charges and to halting the default use of disability benefits to fund them.”

Cosla and the Scottish government were contacted for comment.