CAMPAIGNING councillors are celebrating after controversial plans to charge to pick up elderly people who had suffered a fall were dropped.

Tendring Council is set to start a new service to provide a response from specially-trained staff as part of a package under its Careline scheme, which helps more than 3,000 people to live independently in their own homes.

People who use the service wear a device around their neck and if they fall, they can press a button to summon help.

It was proposed that pensioners who need to be helped back to their feet would be charged an extra £25 per year – on top of the council’s monthly £21.60 charge to be in the scheme.

That sparked anger across the country and a petition was signed by more than 80,000 people.

But the plan to charge extra has now been dropped after Labour group leader Ivan Henderson put forward an amendment to the council’s budget calling for £221,000 out of the £2.1 million unallocated New Homes Bonus to fund the service for three years.

Mr Henderson said: “We do understand the impact on finances that have been imposed on this council by the Chancellor George Osborne with his huge and drastic cuts to local government.

“But we have a social and moral obligation to the elderly and disabled of the district.”