A mother of a man with learning and physical disabilities has shared her fears over the cut to the disability allowance he will receive.
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00:00They can't work in the first place, they can't get a second job, they can't take on overtime.
00:05The reaction as increases to care charges take effect to her son and others across Kent today.
00:10Nathan, who has lifelong learning and physical disabilities, lives in a care home outside the county.
00:16Each week he contributes towards the cost of the support he receives.
00:20But last month his mother received a letter from Kent County Council informing her that Nathan will now have to pay an extra £35 a week.
00:28That might sound like a small amount to the councillors sitting up in County Hall,
00:34but for somebody like Nathan that means the difference between living a life or just existing.
00:40Some people who need to run specialist equipment which uses up a lot of electricity, they might need a specialist diet.
00:47If you start cutting back on any things like that, the potential harm to their health could be absolutely devastating.
00:55Are we talking death?
00:57I think it could.
00:59Kent County Council's policy on calculating care costs now considers higher benefit rates.
01:04The change means that affected disabled people will pay more for the care they receive.
01:09Sophie, who runs a charity supporting vulnerable people, wrote to the council earlier this year urging them to halt these changes.
01:17She argues that since disabled people are often unable to work, these increases could push more people into poverty.
01:24So it's going to have a major impact on a lot of people who are going to have to be making difficult choices again
01:30about whether to take care, whether to pay for care at all.
01:36And often it is crucial support, but there are people who do go without.
01:41Now the charity says these changes to charitable care will impact thousands of households right across Kent.
01:48But there's now a motion from the Labour group that could potentially stop that.
01:53They say the new government's three-year funding settlement for local councils could potentially reduce the need for these care cost increases.
02:00In the overall budget for KCC and adult social care, it's a very small amount.
02:06And I believe that if we can delay this until that award comes through, we can find the money to do this year after year after year.
02:14Now you're trying to bring this motion forward for the next full council in mid-September. Is that going to be too late for any changes to happen?
02:20All they have to do is say we're not implementing.
02:24In a statement, Kent County Council said the decision was not taken lightly.
02:27They plan to mitigate some of the impact by including a £900,000 contingency into the budget to help with the increased disability-related expenses.
02:37But for Bernadette, the fight to reverse these changes for her son and others across Kent is far from over.
02:43She's not ruling out legal action.
02:46Gabriel Morris, in Tunbridge.