A COUNCIL may stop providing meals on wheels following the introduction of rules which will make fewer people eligible to receive them.

Since 1974, Durham City Council and Durham County Council have jointly distributed meals to elderly and disabled people throughout the city.

The service is funded and administered by the city council, with the county council contributing half the cost.

In 2000, the county council commissioned a county-wide review of meals provision.

A report highlighted several areas of concern, including variable eligibility criteria, inequalities in charges, the inflexibility of menus and deliveries, and poor take-up.

Now the county council is planning a shake-up, in which it will cut the number of people eligible for meals on wheels and, thereby, the subsidies it provides.

A report by Durham City Council's director of community services, David Marrs, due to go before the cabinet on Monday,September 16, says: "They (the county council) will assume a rationing role to the hot meals service and will raise the qualifying criteria to the point where relatively few of our current clients, maybe as few as ten per cent (55 people) will qualify for their subsidy on the hot meals service."

The report claims that to operate the revised service, the city council would have to buy or lease a specialist computer system, costing £10,000 or £4,200 a year, buy new delivery vehicles, and spend an extra £25,000 on staff, administration and transport.

It adds: "Once the new criteria are in place, there will be a significant, and financially prohibitive, drop in volume of meals, with no drop in fixed running costs.

"It is therefore proposed that notice be given to the county council of this council's intention to withdraw from the provision of meals."

The reports says consultations would be undertaken to deploy staff elsewhere and the service handed over to a new provider.

Peter Kemp, director of social services for Durham County Council, said meals would still be provided for those in genuine need.

He said: "We want to improve quality and link meals with an assessment of need.

"We would not want to remove meals from anyone who was dependant on them.