CROYDON IN CRISIS: Mayor forced to change cost-cutting plans after just a fortnight, following his confrontation on Katharine Street, a choral protest at the Town Hall and more than 2,000 signatures on a petition.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Under new management: the council says that the Carers’ Centre on George Street will remain open, to be used by their new service provider
The Croydon Carers’ Centre on George Street is to remain open after all.
Mayor Jason Perry “has been spooked into a U-turn”, according to Katharine Street sources, with the council’s new service provider, Carers First, now expected to move in to the premises in the town centre that have been providing reassurance, advice and, above all, care, for the past 12 years.
Inside Croydon broke the news two weeks ago that the Croydon Carers’ Centre was to close. February 12 was the day that staff were told. Staff would be transferred to the new service provider, but work under different arrangements. The Whitgift Foundation, which manages the centre, had lost its contract with the council to provide services for carers, making opperating the centre no longer viable.
The centre has been helping hard-pressed families in the borough for more than a decade. It was due to close on March 14, after Croydon Council opted to break provision for carers into three parts, with adult carers’ assessments now to be provided by Carers First.
The council had claimed that its new contracts would somehow “deliver enhanced support for Croydon’s carers”. In Merton, where Carers First won a similar contract for services last year, the “contact” carers have with the company is through a phone centre in Swindon and a website.
Mayor Perry made an oblique and unexplained reference to the centre remaining open during his council Budget speech on Wednesday night, where a choir of carers had sung their protest on the Town Hall steps.
When asked to clarify, a spokesperson for the council told Inside Croydon: “The current carers centre is remaining open in George Street and the new provider will deliver support to carers from the current base.
“We appreciate and value the tremendous work done by our carers in the borough supporting their loved ones. We also understand the importance of the support carers receive from the current town centre base. Under this new contract, a town centre and local bases will be available to support carers.
“There has been no reduction in the level of funding allocated to the new contract to improve the service for carers, following the increase in funding we committed to in 2024.”
The council reiterated how the new contract “offers more support for carers across the borough in places where they can get to them”.
Confrontation on Katharine St: Mayor Perry (right, in his Mitcham Belle drivers’ cagoule) did not know where Carers First would operate from when asked last week
Inside Croydon understands that the Whitgift Foundation, which has operated the Carers’ Centre in partnership with Croydon Council since 2013, had not been advised by the council of this abrupt change in plan. The council holds a lease on the property, which would enable Carers First to utilise the centre. At what cost, and who foots the bill, the council did not say.
Just a week ago, when confronted by a group of concerned carers on Katharine Street, Mayor Perry had been asked where the “hub” of this new “hub and spokes” support network would be. “I don’t know,” Mayor Perry said then. A week is still a long time in Croydon politics.
“The council are legally required to supply an assessment service and information. The rest is down to the provider,” Perry told carers last week. Which suggests that the council might have to find extra money for any extra services provided through having the Carers’ Centre open.
Those who had been affected by the threat of closure of the centre welcomed the change of plan, but with a degree of caution which belies their distrust of their council.
“If the council has now, as a result of pressure, revised plans to keep the building in George Street, this is good news,” said one campaigner.
“But we are campaigning against not just the closure of the building but the replacement with another provider – why has the tender been given to a national, non-local company who have lost contracts in Newham and Hackney. It goes against the Mayor’s own local business plan.
“Why have Croydon not protected the work of local services, who will clearly have far greater knowledge and deeper roots of expertise and knowledge than a national provider?
“The decision-making requires scrutiny on many points, including that carers were not consulted on the choice of provider. We have emails proving that a former carer-volunteer was discouraged from taking part on the evaluation panel.”
Peter Underwood, who in 2022 was a local election candidate for the Green Party in Fairfield ward, which covers George Street, said, “It is welcome news that the Carers’ Centre won’t be closing.
“But I’m sure carers will be concerned about what sort of centre it will be under the new provider.
“Being a carer can be a very isolating experience and I know carers valued the current centre as not just a place to get professional advice but also a place to meet others in similar situations and join in a range of activities. I hope that this heart of the centre will continue and be part of the service offered at other sites in the borough.”
Another of the campaigners said: “Well done to iC and others who have campaigned to keep the centre open.
“As the council is planning more support for carers in bases outside the town centre it will be interesting to know what effect this will have on the services available in George Street.”
Read more: Perry confronted outside Town Hall over Carers’ Centre closure
Read more: ‘Council is gas-lighting us over support services’ say carers
Read more: Council Tax hits £2,500 per year as debts continue to mount
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
FREE ADS: Paid-up subscribers to Inside Croydon qualify for a free ad for their business, residents’ association or community group, just one of the benefits of being part of our online community. For more information about being an iC subscriber, click here for our Patreon page
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
You know what this means. We now have to call-him “Mayor part-time porky-pies piss-poor puce-faced short-sleeves U-turn Perry”. His favourite dessert? Half-baked Polaska
Better to U-turn than to Persist Pugnaciously without Penitence in the wrong direction?
Yes, good for the carers and cared for, but the fact that he’s been forced to make this volte-face shows how ill-conceived this whole plan has been
True.
Together Strong