SOME elderly residents in nursing homes across the New Forest face paying up to £2,755 a year extra for the same level of care enjoyed by those living in a room next door.

A new two-tier funding system will see hundreds of the frailest pensioners lose out on vital cash help.

Campaigners and carers for the elderly have condemned the inequality for leaving some of the worst off - and their relatives - out of pocket.

Social services bosses have agreed to pay up to £425 a week for nursing home beds for those in need of high levels of support.

But the new rate will not be given to anyone already in one of Hampshire's 126 homes that provide nursing care.

Those assisted by Hampshire County Council will continue to get a weekly maximum of £372 while those helped by Southampton City Council will continue to be given £384.

Council chiefs say government underfunding has meant they can only afford to pay the increased rate for new nursing home residents.

Eastleigh MP David Chidgey, pictured right, described the situation as bizarre.

He said: "There's got to be a level playing field with universal contributions across the board.

"To create a two-tier system is bound to cause severe disruption and a great deal of concern and heartbreak amongst the people who have residents in a home."

Bob Ferguson, spokesman for the Hampshire Care Association, which represents 300 care homes in the county, is furious at the two-tier help.

He said: "We have condemned this as discrimination."

Hampshire spokeswoman for Help the Aged Hilary Carter blames the government.

She said: "Local authorities are being squeezed so hard.

"They are in a dreadful position but the people really bearing the brunt of poor central government funding are older people."

The money is paid to those who need financial assistance to pay for nursing home care, the cost of which can rise to more than £500 a week for the very best accommodation.

Would-be residents are expected to contribute to the cost if they have the funds to do so.

Relatives often have to top up the cash to secure the level of care they want.

Out of 3,600 nursing home beds for the elderly in Hampshire, about 1,500 are funded by Hampshire County Council while in Southampton, the City Council funds 212.

The increased rates were brought in to help nursing home bosses keep beds - 103 of which disappeared across the county last year - available to publicly-funded pensioners.

Those places are needed if the bed-blocking that blights the county's hospitals is to be tackled.

Council bosses say they simply do not have the funding to apply the new rate across the board.

Hampshire's social services director Terry Butler said: "It would cost an additional £2.5m each year if we were to pay the increased rate for all nursing home beds - the equivalent cost would mean the loss of about 100 beds in a year.

"This would not only undermine the viability of the nursing care industry but also exacerbate hospital bed-blocking."

A spokeswoman for the city council added: "We made a 6.9 per cent increase across the board last year. This year for the new placements it's over 11 per cent.

"We are saving the taxpayers £307,000 by not paying everybody exactly the same amount."