A COUNCIL-appointed Carers' Champion has accused social work chiefs of dishonest practices in assessing the needs of disabled people.
Dr Christopher Mason has also warned that policies to hand more control to disabled people and their carers are failing.
He said Glasgow City Council's social work department had interfered with judgments made by frontline social workers because of a need to make budget cuts.
He warned many carers are on the verge of being unable to cope and that if only a few dozen of the thousands who look after a sick, disabled or elderly relative were to give up, any savings would be wiped out by the need to replace the care they provide.
Mr Mason was appointed last year by councillors to champion the needs of carers in the city and has been an outspoken critic.
The rebuke came in a letter to several councillors about the case of a family whose 19-year-old disabled daughter has seen the funds allocated to her care slashed by £26,000 after being assessed for 'self-directed support'.
Mr Mason said Charlene Connolly was left with far short of what she and her family needed, and a personalisation policy failed to acknowledge her needs.
He warned that similar problems were faced by all carers. He said: "Some carers are being put under so much stress and strain by what is going on that they will not be able to go on looking after their disabled family members at home. Families will be broken up and the public purse will be faced with costs that it will not be able to meet.
In the letter sent to councillors involved in the case, Mr Mason alleges disabled people in need of care are being assessed using a tick-box exercise which he claims is inadequate. In her case, senior officers were said to have instructed the social worker behind the assessment to change the answers to reduce her score.
He added: "The integrity of the assessment process has been deliberately compromised by the administrative measures employed by the department and there are many other carers who could provide similar evidence."
Of a threat by Ms Connolly's mother Carolan to give up the care she provides, Mr Mason said: "Instead of a saving of some £22,600, the council will be looking at an annual cost of £180,000.
"Social work's approach to the implementation of personalisation is being driven by shortage of money. It is not working for disabled people and their families."
Ms Connolly said: "I am in contact with hundreds of carers all over Glasgow. I think this is becoming a massive care crisis."
A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said the council would not comment on individual cases.
He added: "Personalisation represents a radical change in the way social care is delivered. It is about ensuring a fair and equitable allocation of available resources in order to meet identified and comparable need across the city. It is also about affording more choice and control to service users.
"The social work service has a responsibility to all its clients across the city and therefore needs a consistent approach in terms of assessment of need. Considerable work on personalisation has already been undertaken in Glasgow and the new system is fundamentally sound.
"Personalisation is being well received by a significant majority of our service users as it gives them greater choice over the support they receive and the greater control that gives them over their lives."
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