MOST councils are charging ­disabled and elderly adults for care services even if they live below the poverty line, according to campaigners.

Scotland Against the Care Tax (SACT), a coalition of 16 organisations representing ­disabled people, claims such charges amount to a discriminatory tax on some of the country's most disadvantaged citizens.

A petition will be presented to the Scottish Parliament early next month calling for the abolition of charges.

Members of SACT include the charities Capability Scotland, Glasgow Disability Alliance and the Learning Disability Alliance Scotland (LDAS).

Councils can charge people who need services for help with tasks such as getting up in the morning and preparing meals, or help to live independently. Most use an earnings disregard, allowing the person to keep some of their income before charges are levied.

However, Ian Hood, coordinator at LDAS, said 23 Scottish councils have an Income Disregard level that is less than the poverty line for single adults under 65.

"The poverty line in Scotland for a single person after housing costs is £144, but these councils say that people with incomes as low as £123 should start paying care charges, driving them further into poverty," he said.

"There is no justifiable argument to levy a charge on people who require a service to participate in the workplace and in their local communities.".

At present councils are free to set up their own system for charging for non-residential care services. With financial pressures on councils rising, many have increased their charges, but the way they calculate who pays them, and how much they pay, varies widely around the country.

Although the Scottish Government asked Scottish councils, through Cosla, to look at regulating charges, talks stalled in August when several disability rights groups quit over a lack of progress.

Councils say that if they did not charge people with disabilities for services such as helping them get dressed or make dinner, it would leave a massive hole in social work budgets.

However, Mr Hood said it was forcing people into poverty. "No other sector of society is expected to contribute to the cost of providing services in such a disproportionate way," he said.

Campaigner Jeff Adamson, 57, of Midlothian, was left paralysed by complications arising from a tumour on his spine when he was 41. He had to give up his job, but has an occupational pension, which his council requires him to use to pay for the two assistants he needs to help him get up and manage through the day, as well as respite support for his wife, who is his main carer.

He is allowed £148 a week, but 70 per cent of all income above that is taken in charges, which he describes as a tax. "I've already paid tax on my income once," he says. "I thought paying into a pension would protect me but we have to worry all the time about money now."

While he was originally charged the value of his Disability Living Allowance, £54 per week, for care, the fee has steadily risen and he now pays £153 per week, he says.

"All I want to do is get on with living a normal life, which most people take for granted."

A Cosla spokesman said: "Cosla is working with a range of third-sector organisations representing disabled people, older people and carers to help make charging arrangements across Scotland more consistent

"Unfortunately, a minority of third-sector organisations would rather shout from the side-lines than sit round the table.

"Local authorities could, of course, stop charging tomorrow. However, that would bring £50m of cuts to social work budgets which are already stretched to breaking point"