3,000 Westminster adults hit by £2m social care cuts

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3,000 Westminster adults hit by £2m social care cuts

By Westminster Labour ⋅ September 25, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment
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Westminster City Council is planning to cut £2 million from the Social Services budget and raise the eligibility threshold for social care services to cover only people with substantial and critical levels of need under the Fair Access to Care Services (FACS) criteria. This will affect over 3,000 people in Westminster with ‘moderate needs’. An estimated 1,700 adults would remain eligible for services.

In addition the Council plans to:

* Close Sherbourne House, which provides day care for physically frail older people. The permanent closure of Sherbourne would mean a reduction in 20 places although it is expected that some extra capacity would be created at the Pullen centre, therefore the net reduction in places is likely to be 10 places.

* Ending the day service for younger adults with physical disabilities at 42 Westbourne Park Road and utilising the building for day care for people with dementia, transferring the service currently provided at Tresham Crescent.

The Council say that these proposals could achieve approximately £600,000 savings over three years.

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Leader of the Labour Group, said: “Westminster’s older, disabled and most vulnerable residents will now be bearing the brunt of the Conservatives’ financial incompetence. Last year the Council had a £20 million hole in its budget and the year before £17 million was put at risk in now-failed Icelandic Banks. The outlook for this year is no better, with a projected £14 million hole in the budget already looking likely. And all of this is before George Osborne is about to slash Westminster’s grant by up to 40% in October, bringing more cuts.

“The mark of a civilised society is the way in which the weakest and most vulnerable are treated. Westminster Conservatives are now showing their true colours and heaping the pain and the misery on thousands of elderly and disabled residents.”

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