Shame On You Campaign... Fighting For The Elderly Mentally Infirm In Staffordshire

Newcastle Borough Council
Civic Offices
Merrial Street
Newcastle under Lyme
Staffordshire
ST5 2AG

6th February 2007


Dear Cabinet Member,

Meeting of the Cabinet Wednesday 7th February 2007
Agenda Item 5 - Medium Term Financial Strategy 2007/2008-2009/2010 and Budget Proposals 2007/2008

We write on behalf of Newcastle Borough Council’s Cabinet to put forward our concerns and the many concerns of residents in Newcastle Borough about your proposals to close all County Council run care homes and day centres in our Borough.

We are alarmed that the County Council is proposing to move 463 elderly people across Staffordshire out of its care homes and into private homes.

We consider that the County Council has handled this situation badly. We are concerned at the lack of adequate consultation and that many people including carers, residents and Borough Councillors were not informed about these proposals.

We consider that the plans to force hundreds of elderly people to move by March 2008 are rushed and that the consequences have not been properly thought through. We are concerned that this disruption to the provision of care for the elderly and the vulnerable will create further anxiety and fear and is already causing them great distress.

We note with concern that there is no guidance in either the 'Changing Lives' strategy document or the budget papers on how day centres will be replaced by 'services in the community' that offer the same level of support to those who use them and their carers. Your own website acknowledges that “Staffordshire day centres provide a range of stimulating activities and welcome company for people who may otherwise rarely be able to leave home”. Until the services in the community can offer at least this level of provision, surely these vital day centres must remain open. The report indicates that this will happen within 18-24 months. Can the County Council show evidence of plans in place to bring this about?

We are very concerned at the financial presentation of proposals. They are unclear. The headline is that there will be net investment of £19.1m over three years 2007/2008 to 2009/2010. However this figure is based on your original MTFS target which appears to be out of date. From what we can gather, there has been an overspend in 2006/2007 which means that your original MTFS targets for 2007/2008 and the following years now have little meaning. To describe the mainstreaming of a budget deficit of 'nearly £9m' (page 22) as 'net investment' of £9m (as is done under column D of the table on page 22) is, in our view, misleading.

We recognise the financial pressures facing Adult Social Care services in the County and we do not pretend that there are easy solutions. However for the County Council to proclaim the results of underbudgeting in 2006/2007 as 'new investment' in 2007/2008 and the following years is highly inappropriate, especially when it touches on the lives of so many vulnerable people.

We urge you as members of the Cabinet at the County Council not to implement this decision, but to consider carefully the effects of these proposals on people’s lives across Newcastle Borough and the rest of Staffordshire.

Finally we also invite the Portfolio-Holder for Social Care and Health to attend Newcastle Borough Council’s Cabinet to explain how the County Council intends to proceed.

Yours sincerely,


Councillor Simon Tagg   
Leader of Newcastle Deputy Leader of Newcastle

Councillor Robin Studd
Borough Council Borough Council

For and on behalf of Newcastle Borough Council Cabinet