Meals on wheels customers could face 64% fee hike after service saved from axe

Nicholas Thomas – Local democracy reporter

Fees for a council’s “lifeline” meals on wheels service could go up by more than £2.50 a day for the majority of users.

The proposal is the Caerphilly Council’s latest attempt to reform what it calls a “financially unsustainable” subsidised Meals Direct service, which was saved from the axe in 2024 following a public backlash.

Cabinet members at the cash-strapped council instead instructed officers to find alternative ways to save money – and a new report shows a mooted fee rise is “the first stage in making Meals Direct a sustainable service”.

If approved, the hike would likely affect around four in five of the roughly 300 recipients of daily meals.

Referred

Currently, the council operates a two-tier pricing system for Meals Direct – most people (79%), who have been referred to the scheme by social services, pay the lower £4.18 each day for a daily main meal and dessert on weekdays

The remainder, who have joined the scheme at their own or their family’s request, pay a higher £6.89 for the same offer.

The proposal is for Caerphilly Council to remove the lower rate and charge all Meals Direct recipients £6.89 a day for the full service – a fee increase of 64% for the majority of users.

In the new report, the council argues there is “no legal requirement for local authorities to subsidise food” and claims it is the only one in Wales to operate a two-tier system.

Caerphilly Council has also frequently stated it must save millions of pounds over the next three years, to plug a budget gap.

Cost

A scrutiny committee will discuss the new proposal at a meeting next week (Tuesday April 22), before cabinet members will likely be asked “to consider removal of the lower rate as the first step towards the service becoming financially sustainable, by ultimately charging the full economic cost of the service”.

The future of Meals Direct proved to be an emotional subject when the council proposed shutting the scheme down last year, as part of wider cost-cutting measures.

In September, there were trade union protests outside the council’s headquarters, and an impassioned speech in the chamber from the daughter of a Meals Direct recipient – who called it a “lifeline” for users. Backbench councillors then backed saving the scheme and making it “sustainable over the long-term”.