Care Staff To ‘Apply Again For Own Jobs’

Care workers fear they will lose their jobs – despite their care home being saved from closure. Staff at Hillport House, in Newcastle, believe Staffordshire County Council is unfairly asking them to reapply for their own jobs, effectively putting them in competition with workers at care homes set to close.

The county council says Hillport House is being transformed into a new service, along with the other six homes being retained, meaning positions cannot be ring-fenced.

One care assistant, who has worked at Hillport House for more than eight years, has contacted The Sentinel, saying that all the staff there feel betrayed.

The worker, who did not wish to be named, said: “We’ve all been told we’ve got to apply for our own jobs. I’ve seen the paperwork, and it says the new jobs will be exactly what we’re doing now, just under a different name. The council might say they’re different jobs, but I don’t agree with that at all. Hillport House is a specialist dementia unit and it’s going to stay a specialist dementia unit.”

The Sentinel has previously reported that more than 900 workers were facing redundancy as the county council closes two-thirds of its residential homes for the elderly.

A spokesman for the county council said: “Nobody is having to reapply for their own jobs because it’s going to be a completely new service. Hillport House is going to have a new focus, with a new structure in place, so all the job roles are changing.

“It might be the same building but it will be a new service. That is why we can’t ring-fence jobs for the staff currently working there.”