'Farron ups stakes on care home charges fight - and reports County Council to Care Quality Commission'

MP Tim Farron has today upped the stakes in his campaign to prevent older people in South Lakes getting an unfair deal from the County Council.

Plans by the County Council to place a cap on fees for care homes threaten to leave elderly people in the South Lakes (where home charges are above average due to higher property prices) with no choice but to leave their home.

Mr Farron believes that this is unfair and against the Care Quality Commission's guidelines for treatment of elderly people. The CQC is the government's new inspection watchdog for social care. Tim has now formally reported the Conservative-led Cumbria County Council for their decision, stating that it would leave many older people in desperate circumstances.

"Dozens of older people in South Lakeland will be forced to pay unaffordable rates, or else have to move many miles to Barrow, West Cumbria or Carlisle to find a home that they can afford by this ridiculous and heartless decision. That's why I am reporting the Council to the Care Quality Commission and asking them to intervene