Arthur Jeffries, aged 86, of East Dene, Rotherham, relies on home carers to look after his wife Sylvia, 76, who has been unable to walk unaided after suffering a stroke in the early 1990s.

But trade union Unison claims up to 80 home carers' jobs could be at risk under Rotherham Council plans to transfer two-thirds of its service to private companies.

Retired steelworker Mr Jeffries served in the Army during World War Two, working his way up to the rank of sergeant major but had to help on the home front rather than fight abroad because of an ear injury sustained in a boxing bout.

He now fears if Sylvia loses the regular home carers with whom she has built up "years of trust" she could be forced to move into respite accommodation instead.

He said: "We are visited three times a day by council carers and again at night by carers from another company. I'm worried about the future if there are any cuts.

"If anything happened to the service we receive my wife would have to go into respite - we couldn't cope without them."

The couple, who have been visited by the same carers every day for years, have eight children and 30 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Mr Jeffries said he couldn't bear to be apart from his wife.

But Rotherham Council said Unison was "scaremongering" and said it wanted to reassure care service users their arrangements would not be changed under the restructuring.

"Anyone who has an agreed care package will continue to receive that care package. There is no danger care will be reduced - we cannot make any changes by law," a spokeswoman said.

The authority added it was against its policy to make redundancies and reductions in staffing would not be on the scale Unison fears. Any cuts would come from non-replacement of workers who retire.

The council said it is restructuring its care service to "balance" the workload - because some staff work "unacceptable amounts" of overtime, while others work fewer hours. A review is ongoing.

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