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Social care company could save council £500,000
Reporter: Karen Doherty
Date online: 31 January 2012
Oldham council cabinet
OLDHAM Council has outlined plans for a new company to provide social care services for its most vulnerable residents.
It wants to set up a trading arm for services such as homecare and daycare for the elderly and adults with disabilities and mental health problems.
The move could save £500,000 at a time when increases in social care funding from the government have not kept pace with the rising numbers of older and disabled people. This means that many adult social care departments are unable to balance their books.
The council spends £15 million on adult social care and employs more than 400 people in the sector.
The trading arm would operate independently of the council with the majority stake owned by the council and a minority stake by an employee co-operative.
The council says this would provide a better choice of services, with any places not taken up by Oldham residents sold to other people to make money.
Councillor Phil Harrison, cabinet member for adult social services and health, said the move would provide more job security for existing staff and improve services.
Currently one third of care services for older people are provided by the local authority and two thirds commissioned from the external sector.
Ann Sergeant, a branch convenor with the GMB union, told the Chronicle: “The unions are in consultation with management regarding the trading arm.
“Unions have requested more information regarding this; however we have not received anything so far.”
Comments
I never understood why Oldham council made hundreds of social services staff redundant to only replace them with private sector staff costing nearly twice as much per hour.
Re Timberwolfs post, I think there plan is this. The existing council staff under the new proposal by default will be no longer be employed by the council, but by the new armslength organisation, which will now be in the private sector ! Resulting in a new job description terms and conditions and low and behold on less per hour !
Thanks Neo. I am still confused though as the member of my family that was made redundant was earning approx £6.50 hour with nearly 40 years unblemished service. I now hear similar private workers contracted by the council earn around £10 + an hour to provide a lesser service within the same circumstances.
Have Your Say
So the Council is to set up a trading arm to care for elderly residents and will be the majority share holder and will need to provide funding. I don’t see how this will save £500K unless they can fill more than half the places with paying elderly residents, or the staff will no longer be on the Council pay role and off the pension scheme as well, Here we have it a Socialist group making money of the old and vulnerable this is more Conservative than the Conservatives. Well done!
By Silver Surfer @ 31/01/2012 16:11:55