CROYDON IN CRISIS: Valued workers based in George Street look set to pay with their jobs so that Mayor Perry can dodge criticism.
EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Just days after Mayor Jason Perry denied he was performing a U-turn when he U-turned by announcing that the Croydon Carers’ Support Centre on George Street would remain open, and staff working at the centre have been told that they now face losing their jobs next month.
Mayor Perry and the council decided to change provider of statutory carers’ support services, from local charity the Whitgift Foundation to an out-of-borough commercial company, Carers First. Without the council contract, the Foundation could no longer afford to manage the Carers’ Centre, where they employed around nine staff.
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.
When the news of the closure of the Carers’ Centre first leaked out – and was reported exclusively by Inside Croydon – the council issued assurances that there would be no job losses and that Croydon-based staff would be “TUPE’d over”, from the Whitgift Foundation to the pay-roll of Kent-based Carers’ First.
TUPE-ing is a common practice in the public sector: TUPE stands for “Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)”, which is supposed to protect employees when a business changes ownership or a service provider changes.
Uncertain future: the Carers’ Centre on George Street has been given a reprieve, though no one is certain for how long
Carers’ First business usually sees the company operate an admin office in the boroughs where they have landed contracts, while carers in need of assistance are expected to phone a call centre in Swindon or visit the Carers First website.
Carers who use the Croydon centre on a regular basis raised a petition which in a matter of a few days attracted more than 2,500 signatures opposing the closure. The strength of feeling behind the petition, as well as his being confronted on Katharine Street by a deputation of angry carers, saw the Tory Mayor forced into his rapid volte face.
Carers First suddenly agreed to continue operating the Carers’ Centre, something which was never in their bid when the council ran its procurement process.
Perry, who is paid £84,000 per year as Croydon Mayor, has tried to claim that the switch of provider is not about saving his cash-strapped council money, although it is established that Carers First under-bid the Whitgift Foundation.
“It’s pretty obvious that Perry or the council must have leant on Carers First about keeping the centre open, to take some of the heat off the Mayor,” one carer told Inside Croydon today.
“Now, some of the hard-working staff at the centre look like they will pay for that move with their jobs.
“And who knows how long Carers First will continue to keep the Carers’ Centre open? Perry has provided no guarantees. They might close the place after a few months, once the storm around Perry has died down a bit. The council’s cynicism in all this is utterly shameful.”
The staff received a letter earlier this week that advised them of the possibility of an impending redundancy process, which would commence once Carers First take over the service on April 1. The reason has been given as “due to financial sustainability within the contract price”.
Greedy: workers at the Carers’ Centre could pay with their jobs so that cake-loving Jason Perry dodges some criticism
Inside Croydon understands that some of the workers who could lose their jobs would be left without any redundancy settlement from Carers First because they have been in their jobs for less than two years.
And according to other sources on George Street, what is supposed to be a transfer process that usually lasts three months has been compressed into six weeks because of delays at Croydon Council in handling the change of service provider.
The council’s decision, and the consequential closure of the Carers’ Centre, only became known on February 12. Carers First are supposed to take over the contract for adult carer assessments and health support on April 1.
Visitors to the Carers’ Centre yesterday and today say that the staff there are in a state of shock. “They’re devastated,” one said. “They liked working for the John Whitgift Foundation. They didn’t want to be transfered to Carers First. And they certainly don’t want to lose their jobs.”
One of the carers who visited the centre yesterday told Inside Croydon, “The staff have now been told that once they transfer to Carers First, a restructure and consultation will take place straight away and redundancies will occur.”
The source said that staff have been told that it was never in Carers First’s plan to operate the George Street site.
“The Mayor’s chosen providers have inadvertently outed him as a liar,” the source said.
“To dispose of staff when the service is already so busy is shocking and unfair, and it will affect carer services.” The carers have been told that Carers First do not intend to have the centre open throughout the week, as is currently the case.
“The truth is, the council probably do not care that the new service will be substandard, as long as boxes are ticked.”
In a formula, corporate statement issued by Carers First, they said: “Carers First is committed to delivering high-quality support for carers in Croydon. Our focus is on ensuring a smooth transition and maintaining essential services for carers.
“While there will be some changes to how services are structured, our priority is to provide effective, personalised support. We are engaging with carers to shape the services we offer and welcome their feedback.”
Carers First execs are expected at George Street on Monday morning to meet some of the carers from whom they are inviting feedback. A large turnout is anticipated. And next Wednesday at noon, the Carers’ Centre Choir will be outside, singing on George Street as part of the on-going protest over the service changes, and now the unfair redundancies.
Croydon Council’s carers’ services are due for an inspection by the Care Quality Commission imminently. The CQC’s findings about the disrupted service could prove very instructive indeed.
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
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From Jason Perry’s Mayoral Election Manifesto 2022:
“The Council is required by law to consult on many things they do or changes they wish to make. Many of Labour’s ‘consultations’ have been little more than a sham.
“When consulting on the introduction of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods 75 per cent of residents responded opposing them. With such overwhelming numbers you’d expect Labour to have listened – well you’d be wrong. They simply went ahead with the policy anyway!
Perry’s manifesto also says “I will put service users at the heart of our policy making”.
Our part-time £84k Mayor, and his forty grand Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care, Councillor Yvette Hopley, could have made it a condition of the tender that the Carers Centre be kept open.
Either they were too dim / lazy to spot the risk that it would be closed or they knew about it but decided that saving money was more important than providing a good service to the public.
Perry’s claim that 75% of residents opposed LTNs wouldn’t stand up to any Fact Check- the majority of voters didn’t respond at all and weren’t bothered. He knows that to be the case, otherwise why did he give the green light to six “Healthy Neighbourhood” schemes last February?
It also explains his unwavering (and unhinged) support for the Polaska Purley Pool stitch-up, despite 75% of public comments being opposed to it
Just keeping the building open is irrelevant – the point is what services will be on offer there? How will Carers First conduct Carers Assessments from a phone line in Swindon? How will their phone operators manage to visit carers in their homes to properly assess their needs? Where is the Equalities Impact Assessment? With services only available to people in crisis, supporting their unpaid carers is even more important. Croydon in general – & Perry in particular – disgust me. I dont know how he & his cabinet manage to sleep at night.
Councils have a legal obligation to consult they also have a legal right to ignore results. The law does not address abuse of powers and needs changing. Labour or Conservative councils no longer serve the community they only make financial decisions, badly.
As I said a couple of days ago, “I’m sure carers will be concerned about what sort of centre it will be under the new provider.” Sadly, it appears that concern is justified and my heart also goes out to those currently working in the centre who are now worried about losing their jobs.
This is yet another situation where the Council has made decisions without considering the impact on the people affected. They seem to think that as a long as they are delivering a carers service, or a front desk enquiry service, or a library service, they are doing their job. There is no consideration of whether the reduced service they are offering will provide what people want and need.
This is what you get when decision makers have no real experience of being service users. How many decision makers at the Council have ever been a carer? How many have been homeless? How many have ever tried to get help from the front desk of a Council?
This is why we need to change how decisions are made at the Council. We need to end this pointless process of half-hearted consultations that are then ignored. We all know there isn’t enough money to pay for everything we want, but we need to involve residents in the actual decision making process so we still get the best Council services we can.
Hear hear! But HOW do we ensure the decision making process is fit for purpose, transparent & informed by Croydon citizens? How do we instigate a No Confidence vote on the toxic Perry? We ‘mere’ citizens never had much power. but this shameless cabinet & council are doing extremely well at eroding what little we did have. Sky-high council tax …. for what?? Obscene salary hikes for overpaid, self-serving mayor & CEO; services decimated from an already shameful baseline. The mayor may claim to be listening…but he’s then totally ignoring what we say. OR, presenting us with a fait accompli with 1 day’s notice & no prior notification. let alone consultation- viz. the move to sppointments only at (no)Access Croydon. Although this purports to come from Kerswell, I can’t believe it was actioned without Perry’s collusion.
Don’t get ill, old, disabled or homeless on the watch of these charlatans – because you won’t get any support…or even the access to ask for it.
Unfortunately, once a Mayor has been elected, they have all the power and there is no way for residents to get them out. This is one of the many reasons why I opposed moving to a Mayoral system. When I stood for Mayor in 2022 I promised to put the Mayor’s powers back into people’s hands and that promise includes holding another referendum to get rid of the Mayor role and move to a committee system.
At the moment we are stuck with Perry until May next year. I hope the people of Croydon will vote for someone better, and ideally someone who will work to get rid of the Mayor role altogether.
‘Carers First suddenly agreed to continue operating the Carers’ Centre, something which was never in their bid when the council ran its procurement process’.
I know nothing of the tender that is referred to in the article, nor have I seen the council’s procurement documents however, the council is a ‘Contracting Authority’ and the council’s procurement may be covered by the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015). A knowledgeable person would be best placed to understand whether the circumstances summarised in this extract do comply with the requirements of the Regulations, and if they do not, this person would be well placed to advise on the appropriate remedies provided for in the Regulations.
This is all just so sad for Croydon. It is another massive loss to so many local folk in great need. Having experienced first hand how professional and hard working the staff are at the Carers Support Centre – it will be a massive loss of talent and specialist expertise.
It beggars belief how badly the Council and Carers First appear to treat people who undoubtedly will be on modest salaries, but making a huge contribution to the community and dedicated to supporting people who get lost in the bureaucracy of councils and their shocking adult social care services.
This will undoubtedly just put further pressure on Croydon’s already stretched adult services and it is quite shameful and shortsighted to treat needy and older people in this manner. Those in senior roles at the council need to take stock and consider reversing their decisions.
From personal experience, with a close relative suffering from Alzheimer’s and failing health – the experience from a failed discharge from Croydon University Hospital; shocking and unprofessional dealings with Croydon’s social worker team – the only helpful support I received was from the caring staff at the Carers Support Centre.
Another backward step for Croydon and the community.