Focus on care not cost for Somerset’s learning disability service

 

Staff and service users of Somerset’s learning disability service have reacted with dismay to the Tory council’s decision to hand it over to a national company with plans to cut jobs and quality.

Dimensions, the company who ended up as the only bidder in the county council’s contracting process, is proposing to make staff redundant, employ more casual workers, cut terms and conditions, and review the provision of day services – potentially leading to closures.

UNISON organiser Tom Kennedy-Hughes said:

“The handover has been built on faulty assumptions and a misleading picture. We were told “there are no savings targets associated with this decision”. The reality is a race to the bottom that’s bad for disabled people, staff, and carers.

“Somerset county council should have fixed the roof while the sun was shining. Instead they froze council tax between 2009 and 2014, starving care services of funds. A 1% yearly increase in that time would have raised £10m to maintain quality services.

“Even now, the Tory cabinet is refusing to use its opportunity to raise funds through the 3% extra social care precept. £6m could be levied and used to truly improve care for vulnerable people. Instead the cabinet is selling them down the river.”

Jenny, a staff member in the learning disability service and UNISON steward, said:

“When service users and their families were consulted, they were promised a focus on quality and continuity of staffing to maintain close bonds between service users and staff.

“Dimensions’ cuts plan will undermine the service. If the cabinet are serious about quality of care, they need to urgently review the handover in light of this information.”

Further information
  • Staff and service users will be lobbying the full council meeting on 15 February at 09:15. UNISON and other relevant groups are encouraging concerned people to attend and ask questions of the cabinet
  • For 2017/18 the cabinet is proposing not to use the full 3% levy for social care that central government has allowed for the next two years, instead raising only a 2% precept.
  • There was no increase in SCC Council Tax from 2012/13 to 2015/16 with income from CT ranging from £207.4m in 2012/13 to £194.3m‎ in 2015/16. (£184.5m in 2013/14 and £189.3m in 2014/15)
  • Council tax increased last year by 5.24% – 1.99% for general purposes, 2% ring fenced for ASC and 1.25% for flood defence as SCC failed to persuade central government as Cumbria did to foot whole bill for flood protection.
  • From 2012, SCC maintained roughly the same expenditure on learning disability services: ‎2012/13 £28.4, 2013/14 £27.8m, 2014/15 £28.4m and 2015/16 £27.5m.
  • A cost comparison produced by the county council shows the Dimensions service costing more than equivalent in-house provision for the first three years of the six year contract, with the £4m of predicted savings only materialising from year four onwards.
  Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Total
SCC (£m) 33 32.7 30.3 31.5 33.1 34.7 195.3
Dimensions (£m) 37.4 34.9 31.3 29.1 29.4 29.3 191.4