Five Berkshire day centres to close and 140 jobs cut

FIVE day centres in West Berkshire which care for elderly and vulnerable people are to be shut by West Berkshire Council as it seeks to redress a brutal cut to its budget.

From next summer, Hillcroft House for people with mental health difficulties in Thatcham, Downlands Day Centre for Older People, in Compton, Windmill Court Day Centre for Older People, in Mortimer, Shaw Day Centre for older people, in Newbury, and the Ormonde centre for people with physical disabilities in Newbury are to be axed.

The ageing population of West Berkshire was blamed for the soaring cost of social care, which had prompted the council to completely change the way it deals with vulnerable people.

The cuts come as part of a “restructuring” of council services, which will see around 140 jobs go across the authority, the majority of which will be full-time, a move which the council hope will save £3.1 million alone.

Fifty two of those are related to the altering of care services, as the council looks to bring in personal budgets for its “clients”.

The council said within the next three years, all 465 users of the day centres will be given an allowance to make personal choices of how they receive their care.

As yet, no upper or lower budget limits have been set on how much the person will be entitled to, and they will have to undergo a self-assessment test before they are issued with the money.

Should the money run out, spokesman for West Berkshire Council, Keith Ulyatt, said a review would take place.

“The issue will be dealt with following that, and it depends on the individual circumstance,” he added.

Age UK, an amalgamation of Age Concern and Help the Aged, baulked at the idea of swingeing cuts to social services.

Spokeswoman, Hong Ling Dyer said: “Councils need to prioritise the most vulnerable in spending decisions. It’s in their power to prevent cuts to care, although that will undoubtedly mean difficult decisions elsewhere.”

The executive member for social care, Joe Mooney (Con, Birch Copse), said it was tragic that people would lose their jobs, but with escalating costs, the council often found itself in a position where it often couldn’t spend the money on the people it wanted to.

“We don’t take pleasure in this at all, but it is an issue we must tackle. If we do not reform the service now, we will not be able to run it at all.”

He added: “It will provide more opportunities for the private and voluntary sector to come in.”

The council’s budget has been slashed by 28 per cent over the next four years, a larger than expected cut which has resulted in the sweeping changes.

The leader of the council, Graham Jones (Con, Lambourn), said the landscape had changed and it was the first time the administration had found itself dealing with year-in cuts, which had resulted in the drastic action being taken.

Spokesman for the West Berkshire branch of Unision, who represent many council workers, Dave Pearson, said that the union was appalled that the day centres were being singled out for the cuts.

“We are very concerned at the impact on services, for a number of people who use the services, the centres are the only respite they get in the day time,” he said.

“We have no faith in the personalised budgets experiment, nobody knows if it will work or not. Many of the people might not be in the position to make a decision on the type of care they need, what if they make the wrong choices?”

He said that some of the council’s finest workers were employed at the care centres, and it was poor reward for their hard work.

The job losses may continue next year, according to the chief executive of West Berkshire Council Nick Carter, who said the need to reduce staff numbers was very much in the hands of the government.

Leader of the opposition Jeff Brooks (Lib Dem, Thatcham West), said his party had demanded the Conservative-led council had ignored his requests for a cross-board examination of the budget, where every role would be scrutinised.

He said that care provision had to be altered, but questioned the size of the cuts levelled at the service, and said the council had tried to pin the blame entirely on the budget cuts imposed by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, when the council was already overspending.

Other areas hit by the cuts include youth services, where 14 jobs will go.
By the end of the financial year, the council will have axed 11 per cent of its current workforce.