Following a Freedom of Information request, the Labour party have looked at data from councils across England. The information revealed that over the last two years, the costs of meals on wheels had risen by 13%, the cost of transport had risen by 33% and the cost of home care by 6%.

The data also revealed big variations in costs across the regions of England.

The coalition government indicated that the responsibility for non-residential care laid with the local authorities and any changes they introduced should be affordable.

The main differences that Labour found were in the fees levied and the caps which are applied to prevent people in vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, from having to pay too much towards the cost of services.

Over half a million people benefit from home help from their local authority. If a person has under £13,000 in savings, they are entitled to have the care for free, but those with more savings have to pay. For those who have to pay for home care, the cost is currently £13.49 per hour. The care can include help with washing and dressing and 10 hours of care a week would amount to over £7,000 per year in costs.

However, there was a variation of the costs across different regions; some councils might give the care for free, whilst others could charge £20 per hour.

In addition to the home care costs, meals on wheels now costs around £3.44 per meal and transport for trips such as day centres now cost £2.32 per journey.

Some councils also limit how much a person has to contribute towards the costs of the services they use. Again, the regional differences mean that while some may have to pay no more than £105 per week towards the costs, others might have to pay up to £900 per week.

The data showed that as council have faced cuts, the caps on the amount that someone would have to pay towards their services have also risen over the last two years.

A spokesperson for Labour suggested that there was a growing crisis in care and that the coalition government were out of touch. They argued that the cuts to services that they had forced is pushing up charges for some of the most vulnerable in society.

A spokesperson for the Local Government Association suggested that the current system for social care was underfunded and not fit for purpose, needing urgent reform.

Previous cross-party talks over the future of social care ended before the last election and new talks between Labour and government ministers have been agreed and are due to begin in the new year.

Government ministers have indicated that they have plans to overhaul the current means testedsystems and hope to publish them early next year.