An MP has offered to set up a meeting between Government and Bradford Council officials to resolve a row over care bills for disabled people.

Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe, pictured, says he is prepared to fix a meeting between social services officials and Whitehall to sort out the dispute.

The MP has been contacted by constituents who care for disabled relatives, who are frightened and distressed by the prospect of a court summons.

Bradford Council says it is owed £220,000 in unpaid charges for day-care and home-care services provided to disabled and elderly people.

"It is going to cause unnecessary upset and I don't think it will resolve the problem. I can't see that they will get the money back that way," Mr Sutcliffe said today. "I think they should find another way of doing it."

The MP said he would be writing to protest to both Ian Greenwood, leader of Bradford Council, and John Godward, chairman of social services. "The Council is wrong to threaten to take carers to court. It goes against the spirit of what the Government is trying to do which is to try and improve the lot of carers,'' he added.

But Councillor Godward said: "We are required by law to recover this money and Gerry Sutcliffe, as a former leader of the Council, knows that."

Meanwhile, Paul Smith, Bradford district officer for Mencap, said the charity regarded day-care and home-care charges as 'a tax on disability. "They are taxing people for being disabled and parents are being unfairly penalised," he said.

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