TWO councils have denied cutting costs after cutting a service for deaf and blind pensioners.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and Middlesbrough Council have not renewed a contract with the national charity Sense to provide help for elderly people who are both deaf and blind.

The reason, according to both authorities, is that Sense staff were providing an inadequate service for users.

However, the charity claims the decision - with takes effect from tomorrow - is purely financial and will leave vulnerable disabled people without care.

The scheme provides eight house-bound deaf and blind people with a Sense specialist worker - known as a communicator-guide - who visits them for three hours each week to help with tasks such as reading mail, hospital visits or shopping.

Sense recently received a letter from Redcar council saying the authority could no longer support the scheme because of reduced funding from central Government.

Malcolm Matthews, Sense's director of community support and information, said: "This service cut flies in the face of government guidance to local authorities which obliges local authorities to provide specialist support to all deaf and blind people.

"It is very uncertain whether the eight deaf and blind people who currently benefit from the service will now receive the specialist help and support they desperately need and value.

"They are extremely vulnerable people and this is a dreadful situation for them to be in. The majority are aged over 90 years old."

He said the charity was never told by either authority that there was concern about the quality of the service.

Carol Cook, daughter of 89-year-old Bill Lumsden, who lives alone in Redcar and Cleveland, said her father greatly benefited from the scheme. "He gets so much from the weekly visit. When you think of his age and that of the other old people involved it's heartbreaking."

A Redcar and Cleveland council spokesman denied the decision by both authorities to cut the service was based on cost.

"The decision taken by our elected members was on performance issues. There was concern about qualifications of staff, the support services provided and the scheme's usage," he said.

"Clearly, we have been remiss for not being explicit in our written correspondence in respect of the reasons for non-renewal."

He said the council was working to provide an alternative scheme for people affected.