Fears for York care work jobs

A MAJOR shake-up of home support services for York’s older and vulnerable people is under way putting jobs at risk.

City of York Council says it has started a consultation on how it can best restructure its in-house service, which helps people with matters such as shopping, meal preparation and budgeting.

However, it has denied claims by a support worker’s husband that it is seeking to privatise it and as many as 16 employees are facing compulsory redundancy.

Graham Terry, assistant director for Adult Provision and Transformation, said it was examining alternative ways of providing care and support, including looking at services already provided by the voluntary and not-for-profit sector.

He said: “We will be looking at voluntary redundancy and redeployment options to seek to avoid compulsory redundancies as a result of any changes”.

“The council is looking at how it can best support older and vulnerable people across the city with the funding available. The demand for the present Home Support Service has been reducing and is now accessed by a comparatively small number of customers.”

A man who said his wife had given her “devoted care to ill and infirm people” for many years claimed staff had been called in to a meeting last week and told the in-house service was to be dismantled, with no prior indication or consultation.

He said it had been a “disgraceful and disrespectful” way to announce they would be going on the “labour scrap heap”.

Tracey Simpson-Laing, Labour cabinet member for health, housing and adult social services, said her priority was to provide the best quality services and best value for money to council tax payers.