Tory council's £50m cuts to hit children and the elderly hardest

Westminster council today set out a £50million cuts package which will see some of the most vulnerable residents hit hardest over the next two years.

The council, London's first to respond to the Government's funding settlement, will slash £14.5million from care for the elderly and disabled. Services such as meals on wheels and daycare for the disabled face 50 per cent cuts.

Under proposals £5.4million will go from children's services, with £1.6million being shaved off the budget for youngsters in care, while charges for after-school and holiday clubs will rise £400,000.

Weekly fees for after-school clubs are set to go up from £8.30 to £30 and holiday clubs from £22 to £120.

More than £30million of the cuts will be in April after the Government insisted they be "front-loaded".

The rest will come in 2011/12. Westminster claimed it had carried on providing moderate care services long after other councils had stopped and would now focus on funding for the neediest. An extra £350,000 would go on child protection and £590,000 on further education.

Melvyn Caplan, cabinet member for finance, said: "No one wants to cut services, but previous levels of spending are simply unsustainable and like it or not we simply cannot afford to do all the things we used to."

But Labour group leader Paul Dimoldenberg said: "These front-line service cuts will hit every corner of Westminster. Those being asked to carry the heaviest burden are the elderly, vulnerable, young people and children."

Other cuts will hit street cleaning, road lighting, community wardens, libraries and archives. However, the council aims to cut £3.8million from management costs and generate £23 million in efficiency savings.

The Portman Early Childhood Centre has already lost £100,000 and could lose at least £90,000 more from its Children in Need budget, which pays for 15 children referred for daycare by social services.