CAMPAIGNERS calling for the abolition of home care charges for disabled or elderly people say the cost to local authorities would be much less than they have estimated.

They argue the Exchequer could see a net gain from the abolition of fees for care such as help with getting up, mealtimes and day care.

The Scotland Against the Care Tax campaign has published analysis that claims such a move would not leave a £50 million hole in local authority budgets - as council chiefs say - but would in fact cost less than half that.

The campaign argues much of the value of care charges is absorbed by the costs of collecting them. Meanwhile it says charges bring hidden costs to services, including lost tax income from informal carers who cannot work.

Care charges also cause increased costs to health and social services, it says, because some who feel they cannot afford them opt out of preventative services, leading their health to deteriorate, so they become hospitalised or require other more costly treatment later.

However, a spokesman for local authorities body Cosla was scathing about the report. "This is a highly ­speculative document that fails to understand how local authorities administer charges," he said.

"The proposition that councils have a dedicated resource to collect social work charges is nonsense. Very often councils will use council-wide services to collect charges and so the officers who are responsible for social work services are also employed to recover other charges for council services. So it is unrealistic to suggest savings will be realised simply by removing community care charges."