Elderly and disabled adults will soon have to pay all their leftover funds towards social care, causing protesters to accuse Kingston Council of “picking on” vulnerable residents.

The policy change, with residents able to contribute towards their care currently only paying 75 per cent of their spare money, was approved by councillors at an Adult’s and Children’s Committee meeting on Thursday.

Campaigners and opposing councillors have criticised the changes, with some adults now expected to pay up to £80 more per week for their care.

Saturday, July 2: Proposed care fee hike 'is an attack on the vulnerable', campaigners claim

Ruling Conservatives approved the change due to “massive budget pressure” which in recent years has seen the authority’s expenditure drop by tens of millions of pounds.

Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Liz Green said: “I’m really worried about the wellbeing of people who are affected by this. It might be that they start cutting down on food.

“They’re already struggling to make ends meet. It’s about maybe once a month going to the cinema.

“Little treats which aren’t treats as we might think of it. It’s being able to go out and meet some friends.”

In June, Kingston Council put forward two options for changing its adult social care contributions policy and opened a public consultation into the proposals.

The second proposal involved residents who already pay the full costs of their care having to pay “arrangement and management fees”.

Slightly more than 71 per cent of respondents disagreed with upping the contribution to 100 per cent, with just less than 60 per cent disagreeing to the alternative option.

Conservative councillor Richard Hudson said: “There was a very unfortunate allegation that the council is picking on disabled people – that is unfair. We are all taking the pain of this.

“I have to say I approved it with a heavy heart, it’s not something that I really wanted to do. We are under massive budget pressure.

“I thought it was one of those terrible budget decisions you have to make. Consultations we have to do for legal reasons, once we get the results we have to make a judgement call.”

Ray Stonehill, chairman of Richmond and Kingston MS Society, was at the meeting on Thursday, where councillors discussed the proposals for more than an hour.

He said: “It’s just a pity that despite all that debate nobody changed their minds.

“The disappointing thing is it just went across policy and not on the merits of the case and I thought that was dreadful.

“We’re very disappointed that all the arguments were ignored. You begin to wonder about the value of a consultation.

“We’re hoping that picking on people with disabilities to raise money has ended.”

According to Kingston Council, 27 out of the 32 London boroughs already charge a 100 per cent contribution as of July this year.

When in power in 2011, the Lib Dems raised contributions from 50 to 75 per cent of excess income.

The changes will come into effect on Monday, November 14.

Carer Anne Blanche, 77, of Portsmouth Road, said: “They’ve taken the money away from young people. Why carers all the time? Why disabled people? Those are the people you should be protecting.

“I was totally and utterly saddened that a group of people purporting to represent the people could make that decision.”