Partnership over: the Croydon Carers Centre on George Street today, a joint partnership between the council and Whitgift Foundation since 2013
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The hollowing out of the borough continues with the announcement to staff this morning that the Carers’ Centre is to close next month, after the council handed a service contract to another provider.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Doesn’t care about carers: Mayor Jason Perry failed to respond today when invited to comment about the closure of the Carers’ Centre
The Croydon Carers Centre on George Street, which has been helping hard-pressed families in the borough for more than a decade, is to close on March 14.
Staff were told this morning and were clearly shocked by the news.
Inside Croydon understands that the Whitgift Foundation, who run the centre, took the decision after its bid to continue operating carers’ services for Croydon Council was rejected.
Following a procurement process, the council has moved on to another service supplier, but potentially at the expense of the continuing presence of the Centre and the other services it was able to offer, or at least by making those services more difficult to access.
The Carers’ Centre, based close to the tram tracks in the bustling centre of the town, has operated since 2013 as a partnership between the charity and the council.
The Centre has around 9,000 of the borough’s 30,000 registered carers on its database, and claimed to have been handling 25,000 enquiries from carers and professionals each year. They reckon on having 1,800 visitors attending the Centre’s regular events, including its drop-in carer’s café.
One mother, and carer, who visited the centre this morning told Inside Croydon: “All of the carers are devastated and very unhappy about this news.”
Varied services: the support for carers offered by the Centre risks being lost
“Cassie” (not her real name) is herself disabled, and the mother of three, two of whom have disabilities. She said: “I always go to the Carers Centre for coffee and a talk on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday. But now the council is closing the centre next month.”
Cassie said that she had not been given any formal notification of the closure. “The staff were told this morning. It’s the only carers centre in the whole of Croydon.”
Celeste (also not her real name) cares for her son who has special needs. She told Inside Croydon: “The Carers Support Centre has been a sanctuary and a huge support for me.
“I have found out today that Croydon Council are closing the centre. This is going to impact so many unpaid carers like myself. I am devastated. We want our voices to be heard and for Croydon Council to address this.”
The decision to close has been taken following a council procurement process for support to carers. Council sources would not reveal the identity of the successful bidder, who has been handed a seven-year contract, which comes into effect on April 1.
A source at the Foundation said, “We are working with the Council and the new provider to support as smooth a transition as possible. Our focus right now is on supporting carers and staff through the transition.”
The Whitgift Foundation’s new chief exec, Roisha Hughes, told Inside Croydon: “While we are naturally disappointed not to have been successful in the council procurement process to deliver their carer services for the next seven years, we wish the new provider the very best in delivering this important work.”
Emphasising that the Foundation has been providing its support to carers in Croydon for more than 25 years, and saying that “care and education are the two core charitable aims” of the Whitgift Foundation, Hughes said, “Our contract with Croydon Council ends next month, and we are actively considering alternative ways in which we can deliver charitable support to carers in our borough. We will share more on that later this year.”
Until recently, the Centre is staffed and open for three hours, four days a week, but with support available over the phone and email on weekdays.
The Centre offered a broad range of services, for individuals and community organisations, including providing information, advice and support for carers who live in or support someone living in the borough.
The Centre’s website states: “In partnership with Croydon Council, we operate the Carers Support Centre as a one-stop shop for carers.” That amenity appears at risk of being lost in the switch to new service providers.
Among the varied services provided from the Centre had been carers’ assessments for carers of an adult resident in Croydon, which was conducted under a contract with the council.
A Katharine Street source told Inside Croydon: “The service is being reprovided by a different provider. This is simply a change of commissioned service.”
And they claimed: “The new service will actually be a better match to the needs of carers, whose needs were taken into account in the design of the tender for the service than the current one.
“This should lead to a service improvement,” they claimed, adding, “Current staff will be TUPE’d…”, councilspeak for transferred, “… to the new provider, so no loss of jobs either.
“What the carers want from their service is better provided by the new provider than the current one. Why would we not change under those circumstances?”
The answer to that rhetorical question, of course, is the value for money argument contained within the many other services which came as a job-lot at the now-doomed Centre with the carers’ assessments.
However senior figures in Mayor Jason Perry’s council might want to spin the story, the Carers’ Centre is the latest victim of cuts by the cash-strapped council, which is £1.4billion in debt and last week went to the government seeking a £136million bail-out for the next financial year.
Among the first to go was the council’s in-house welfare rights team, which had been providing advice and support to residents for more than 25 years. The small department provided a drop-in service, plus helplines for a range of common issues, including benefits claims, debt management, jobs and training.
There have been other cuts, such as the council’s Community Fund and small grants budget, which hit the borough’s Citizens Advice Bureau, while the withdrawal of council rent subsidies has affected the majority of charities based in the borough.
Council cuts: Mayor Perry closed Bradmore Green and three other public libraries in the autumn, then claimed the council would be providing an improved service
Last autumn, the council closed four public libraries, also viewed as a vital part of the communities that they served. The council has recently “consulted” on the closure of its youth engagement team, planning to axe 14 jobs in the hope that third-party grants to other organisations and voluntary groups will somehow “reprovide” an outreach service that worked to reduce knife crime and keep teens out of drug gangs.
Residents’ Council Tax will be going up from April, to almost £2,500 a year for a Band D household, the second-highest in London.
Jason Perry, the Mayor of Croydon, last month approved an increase in his pay to £84,000 per year (plus the £10,000 that does not appear in his declarations register, which he receives from London Councils), while the council’s most senior staff also got a wage hike, with Katherine Kerswell, 63, the council chief executive since 2020, now on £204,000 pa.
Inside Croydon approached Croydon Council and Mayor Perry for comment. We asked Mayor Perry if he doesn’t care about carers.
We had received no response by the time of publication.
Read more: Council Tax hits £2,500 per year as debts continue to mount
Read more: Labour accuse Perry of ‘mismanagement’ of Town Hall finances
Read more: Croydon In Crisis: budget overspend now close to £100m
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There goes another bit of activity in central Croydon too. The centre’s presence along George Street maintained a bit of well kept frontage amongst the creeping desolation that is Central Croydon. It will be interesting to discover who this new provider is and if they will contribute any economic activity to Croydon. It will probably be contracted out of the Borough knowing short sighted Perry & Kerswell-Reid and so contribute to the downward spiral that is the London Borough of Croydon.
I find it hard to believe that the Whitgift Foundation has lost the tender for this. It is sad to see this happen.
The award criteria were 70% Quality, 30% Price. Time will tell whether the right decision has been made. Meanwhile, the grip of the Whitgift Foundation on Croydon is loosening bit by bit. First Old Palace Girls School, now the Carers Support Centre. What next? The closure of the Whitgift shopping centre can’t be far behind
This is pretty sad. I spent a few years as my dad’s primary carer, the Carers Support Centre provided us with advice and support, which was much needed, especialy when you’re trying to navigate adult social services in the Borough. The number of outlets for unpaid carers to find free support and advice is pretty small, it’s always in most need of help who are hit hardest by the council’s constant cutting of services.
It is really terrible news.Council is cutting all service for residents and spend money on laptops and luxury.