90 Jobs Go As Jane Hodge Care Centre Shuts

Ninety jobs are to be lost with the closure of a respite care centre for disabled people. The Jane Hodge centre in Trerhyngyll, near Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan, will close in January after fulfilling its Christmas and New Year bookings.

Livability said moves to give disabled people more control over support they receive meant it had had less bookings.

It added more people were choosing home-based and privately-run respite care instead.

The final guests will leave the care centre on 4 January 2009, with business finishing on 10 January.

The company, which employed 55 permanent and 35 casual staff at the centre, said it will do their best to help people losing their jobs.

‘Dedicated staff’

It does not have any centres in the area which staff could transfer the work to.

Dave Webber, director of services for disabled adults at Livability, said: “We are enormously grateful for the hard work of our dedicated staff at the centre.

“Without them we would not have been able to make the difference we have to the lives of disabled people using the Jane Hodge Centre.”

A statement from the company said the decision to close the centre has not been taken lightly.

It follows an extensive review of the service, detailed discussions by the Livability Board of Trustees and thorough consultation with staff.

It added that there has been a “substantial reduction” in demand at the Jane Hodge centre in recent years.

The company said if members of the public should contact their local social services departments to help identify alternative respite provision.