Coventry council plans to cut 150 social care jobs

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About 150 community care jobs could be cut if Coventry City Council plans to save £5m are agreed next year.

It is expected 100 of the job losses would be from care workers who provide support for elderly people.

The service, currently run by the Labour-led authority, would instead be privatised, which Unite has warned could reduce pay.

The council has blamed government cuts and promised to "protect the most vulnerable".

It comes as the government announced councils in England will face cuts on average spending-power of 2.9% next year.

Councillor Alison Gingell, Coventry City Council's Cabinet Member for Heath and Adult Services, said: "We don't want to do this.

"If I thought people were going to die because of what we're doing here I would resign right now."

She said the proposals would maintain services "to people in the categories of critical and substantial need".

Coventry City Council's Community Services department, which includes adult social care, plans to save £22.5m over the next three years.

Cllr Gingell said, of the 150 posts to go, about 45 people had already requested early retirement or voluntary redundancy.

It is hoped the other positions would be advertised by agencies, who could take on the care work no longer provided by the council.

"The jobs won't disappear from the city, they just won't be city council jobs," Cllr Gingell added.

The council said the posts are mainly occupied by female part-time workers.

Alan Lewis, from Unite, said he believed the private sector would "pay less for the same job".

At the same time, support services provided by groups like Age UK and the Alzheimer's Society will have their council funding reduced.

Pauline Dye from the Coventry Carers' Centre said because of the cuts other carers will be "expected to do a lot more".

A three-month consultation on the plan was held between August and November and, as a result, the council said the Aylesford Intermediate Care Centre in Hillfields is to be funded for at least another six months.

In August the council said the care centre, which provides assistance for elderly people who have been in hospital, was earmarked for closure.

The decision on whether to approve the plan to save £5m from adult social care services will be made by councillors in January.

It is one of six proposals that, if adopted, will come into effect from April 2014 to save a predicted £10m.

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Most vulnerable set to be hit by latest Coventry City Council cuts



The city’s most vulnerable people are set to be hit hard by the latest sweeping round of cuts which saw the council agree to cut £8 million from its budget.

Proposals to reduce the level of spending on the People Directorate, which provides community services for the most vulnerable, by £8million during 2014/15 were voted through unanimously by Coventry City Council’s cabinet yesterday.

The reduction follows on from £3 million of cuts in 2013/14 and come ahead of an estimated £15million slash scheduled for 2015/16.

An estimated 150 people are set to lose their jobs.

Representatives of Age UK Coventry and Coventry and Warwickshire Mind presented petitions containing almost 3,500 signatures opposing cuts to front line services for the mentally ill and elderly.

Michael Vincent, chief executive of Coventry and Warwickshire Mind, said: “I recognise the difficult position the council has been put in by central government.

“But we provide front line support which keeps hundreds, if not thousands, of people out of council statutory services.”

The council agreed to supply three years of separate grants to help support the Age UK and Mind services through the cuts.

Coun Alison Gingell, cabinet member for health and adult services, underlined the cuts were preceded by one of the biggest and most inclusive consultation processes in the history of the council taking in the views of around 8,000 people. She said: “This is not what we would choose to do, but little drips make big puddles and nobody can be exempt from the cuts.”