Letter from the C.E.O
Letter from the C.E.O
Please see below Ian Ferguson's response to an article in the Express and Star newspaper last Week.
I am writing in response to the article headed “Costs row at centre for blind” in yesterday’s Express and Star.
We feel that the article is ambiguous in that it could be construed that we, Beacon Centre for the Blind, have introduced a fee for attendance. This is categorically not the case – it is Wolverhampton City Council who have introduced this under their ‘Fairer Charging Policy’.
People who are assessed as needing care are now in effect means tested, which means that if they have income and/or savings over a certain limit, the Council asks them to contribute towards their care. The maximum amount that an individual would be asked to contribute to Wolverhampton City Council is £16 per day for our services.
Statistically, visually impaired people incur four times greater social isolation than sighted people. We are therefore encouraging those service users affected by this charge to consider their options and to weigh up any costs they may incur against the benefits they gain from attending our Centre.
Ian Ferguson
Beacon Centre for the Blind C.E.O
