PLEASE allow me through your pages to object in the strongest possible terms to the pending increase in the cost of home care services.

I have been informed by Blackpool Social Services that the cost of this service is to be increased from April 9 this year, so once again the elderly are being clobbered and robbed by Blackpool Council.

After last year's derisory 75p pension award it was good to see a more substantial increase this year from April, i.e. an extra £5 in every pensioners' pocket? Not on your life. Along come Blackpool Social Services to make sure that those most in need are mugged of a large slice of it by upping the cost of home care by 50 per cent. Which means that I personally have lost £2 of my pension increase before seeing a penny of it.

When I first began to use this care service in March 1999 the cost was £2.50 per week. From April this year it will rise to £6, an increase of 140 per cent in just two years -- and they call this a caring service.

I'm sure I'm not alone in considering such an increase in so short a time to be absolutely outrageous. This so-called service is fast becoming a financial burden to those who need it.

The home carers themselves cannot be praised too highly. They are top class, dedicated carers and cannot be faulted. But the management and back-up is pathetic and this latest rise is a disgrace.

It is high time the service users stood up and were counted, otherwise there will be yet another 50 per cent increase next year. Need I say more?

A Johnson,

Cresswood Avenue,

Cleveleys.