Social care plan goes ahead – despite death of democracy claim

BOROUGH Council chiefs at Warrington have unanimously agreed to press ahead with plans to set up a social enterprise to take over adult care services – after being asked by their own scrutiny committee to look again at the proposals.
The decision by the council’s executive board was described as ending uncertainty for 317 people employed in the council‘s existing in-house care and support services – and more than 600 service users.
But after the meeting, Cllr Kevin Bennett (pictured), who had “called in” the proposals for scrutiny, said: “Democracy died a death at Warrington Town Hall tonight.
“The executive passed a decision to outsource our adult social care, totally disregarding the decision of its own overview and scrutiny committee to refer it back for further consultation.
“I believe that the decision was pre-determined and the questions from other members of the executive were ‘staged’.
“I cannot comprehend why the executive wouldn’t give the opportunity for further consultation.”
The move had been opposed by Town Hall union Unison and concerns had also been expressed in a report from the Association for Public Service Excellent (APSE).
Cllr Pat Wright, executive member for health, wellbeing and adult services, said the council had considered and consulted on the proposal for more than two years.
She had met with or received emails from many of the staff who would transfer to the proposal social enterprise – to be known as Catalyst – and they had expressed their support for the proposal and concerns about the uncertainty, particularly following the “call in.”
Cllr Wright said: “The executive board has had significant time to consider the report produced by APSE and they described the business plan as good. The issues raised in that report were not new issues and we have had significant legal and procurement advice.
“This is an important decision that affects services that support some of the most vulnerable people in the town. If those services were kept in house we would have to reduce the funding because of the huge savings the council has to make as a result of national funding cuts. That would mean that the level of care would go down because we would not be able to maintain that level of care with reduced funding.
“We also know that there will be increased demand as the number of elderly people who rely on these services increases, including elderly people with dementia.”
Leader of the council, Cllr Terry O’Neill, said: “This is about
making difficult decisions in difficult times. Nationally, the Local Government Association is talking about a £4.3 billion funding gap for adult social care services. We need to think smarter and better to make sure we protect our most vulnerable”.
Cllr Bennett said: “My concerns were doubled after speaking to Healthwatch Warrington, when they informed me they had similar
concerns to the APSE report. They had written to the executive and the council expressing their concerns, but had not received a reply. “
Cllr Bennett said staff members had attended the executive meeting but were not allowed to speak.
They were opposed to the changes and said they had not been consulted.
“Unfortunately there is no way of reversing this decision now.
“I truly hope that the faith the executive have in the ‘Social Enterprise’ model is justified, for the sake of the staff and service users.”