CROYDON IN CRISIS: Delayed replies, giving short-notice of an appointment and a divide-and-rule approach betray Mayor’s struggle to justify the closure of the authority’s public area, as librarians are now providing advice to the homeless. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Alice In Wonderland script: Tory Mayor Jason Perry is stretching credulity beyond breaking point
Jason Perry, Croydon’s part-time Mayor, was this afternoon meeting with representatives of Croydon’s voluntary sector over the “chaos” surrounding the council’s closure of Access Croydon and his decision to switch to an appointments-only system for residents requesting council help.
Many of the volunteers who manage their organisations in their spare time say that they were given barely a day’s notice of the Mayor’s meeting, which was scheduled to take place during office hours, meaning some of those invited would be unable to attend due to work commitments.
Inside Croydon reported last month how 30 voluntary organisations and charities had signed an open letter to Mayor Perry demanding that Access Croydon should be reopened “to enable Croydon’s vulnerable homeless residents to access the services that they are entitled to by law”.
They reminded Mayor Perry of his 2022 manifesto promise, “I will reopen the doors of the council offices to allow residents to speak directly to a real person.”
Mayor Perry and his £204,000 per year chief executive, Katherine Kerswell, had decided in secret that residents should no longer have an opportunity for face-to-face discussions with a council staff member to discuss their Council Tax, pay their council rent or renew their parking permit.
What public and staff encountered when the new system came into force was described as “chaos”.
Within two days of the new system, Kerswell was forced to issue a warning to staff about their conduct when entering or leaving the building. Tempers had become so frayed, security staff had become targets for abuse.
Booking out: Perry’s letter effectively admits library staff are now having to handle homeless enquries. Just not on Thursdays, when the library is closed
And people arriving at the council offices to seek emergency accommodation after being rendered homeless were being redirected to the Central Library, to use one of their computers to register for an appointment in order… to register that they are homeless.
After the voluntary groups raised their complaints with Perry, it took the Mayor more than a week to reply. Perry’s letter is dated March 28 – last Friday – but some voluntary groups say that they received his invitation only yesterday, just a day before the proposed meeting. So another Croydon Council last-gasp announcement…
Typically of piss-poor Perry’s efforts to “divide and rule”, he specified that today’s gathering on the 10th floor “transformation space” of Fisher’s Folly would be “for our VCS organisation [sic] only”. Councillors, Perry wrote, “will be invited to a separate elected member briefing session”.
In his letter to the voluntary and charity sector Perry repeated his lies about how commonplace it is for London councils to have appointment-only access for residents.
“This approach – which is in line with many London councils…” Perry wrote. In fact, Perry has only been able to identify four out of London’s 33 local authorities that operate such a system.
In his letter to the voluntary groups and charities, Perry, who is paid £84,000 per year as Mayor, claimed, “We fully understand that these changes have raised important questions, and we appreciate the opportunity to further clarify our approach.”
Elsewhere in his letter, Perry stuck stubbornly to his Alice In Wonderland script, according to which, by making the council less accessible to the public, it would somehow improve its services to residents.
“Croydon Council is implementing an appointment-based system to better support residents with their queries, effectively manage demand and provide a quicker, safer, and more efficient service for residents,” Perry claimed, stretching credulity beyond breaking point.
“… Our aim is to ensure that we can prioritise and support those in greatest need whilst improving overall service delivery. We have also consulted with [Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government] homelessness advisers, during which we outlined our revised approach and they commended our commitment to offering in-person appointments.” Which seems a bit odd, since that’s the opposite of what Croydon is now offering. Of course, Perry has not produced a shred of evidence to back-up this claim about MHCLG.
“According to government data, Croydon is experiencing the third-highest number of homelessness presentations in the UK.” This is neither new, nor should it be surprising to Perry, since Croydon has shouldered a burden for housing new arrivals in this country ever since the Home Office based its immigration service in the borough.
No Access Croydon: the decision to shut the public out of access area of Fisher’s Folly has gone very badly
“The changes to Access Croydon are part of the council’s response to this increased demand and to help us support local residents, by becoming more efficient.” Yep, helping local residents by shutting them out of the council offices.
“The appointments system will enable the council to triage and prioritise demand appropriately on those in greatest need… walk-ins will be unavailable at Access Croydon. Instead, customers will be booked in at an agreed time, rather than having what has sometimes been a very long wait to speak to an officer.
“Other changes include a greater focus on preventative work to help people before they reach crisis point, working more closely with charities and partners, and making better use of digital tools to improve processes for residents and staff.” In other words, making the “Digital First” council even more remote by asking people to rely on its sub-standard website – absolutely useless if you are homeless and without access to the interweb – while expecting “charities and partners” to do even more of the cash-strapped council’s work for them.
Perry did make an admission: “We acknowledge concerns around digital exclusion and barriers some residents may face in booking an appointment. Our libraries do offer free access to computers and the internet, and our library staff are always very willing to help residents.” So instead of seeing a housing official, homeless people now have to seek help from librarians.
Perry has so far failed to answer questions about whether more library staff are being deployed at Central Library to cope with the people diverted from the council’s offices.
In his letter, Perry allows himself a little boast that Central Library is “now open five days a week, including Saturdays”. Which is of no consolation to those who turn up to the council offices on Thursdays, and are denied access, and can’t even register for an appointment via the library, because that is the day it is closed.
“We want to reassure you that emergency slots are guaranteed to be available for those in urgent need, and we are working to ensure that the process for accessing these is communicated again,” Perry wrote, another admission that the council’s communications over this latest omnishambles has been woeful.
Perry still refused to answer questions about how many same-day appointments will be available at the council offices for emergencies
“We recognise the essential role that community organisations play in supporting Croydon’s most vulnerable residents, and we are committed to working closely with you,” said the man who gave none of these voluntary organisations or charities any reasonable advance notice of the council shutting its doors to the vulnerable.
Read more: No Access Croydon: 30 voluntary groups demand reopening
Read more: Kerswell issues warning to staff over ‘verbal abuse’ at council
Read more: They voted to raise your Council Tax, then to increase their pay
Read more: Top Tory admits Fairfield Halls could be sold for the right deal
The Croydon Advertiser sold an average of just 742 copies per week last year (ABC 2024 audit).
Inside Croydon is read by an average of 10,000 people every weekday
TO ADVERTISE your services, products or event to our readers to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- Inside Croydon has moved to Bluesky. Click here to join us there for latest updates and insights
Check out our archive of podcasts on Spotify, including our monthly news discussion panel show thingy, the Croydon Insider, and The Andrew Fisher Interview
- 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
Piss-poor Perry is ignoring his legal obligation, the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), which is part of the Equality Act 2010.
This requires him and the Council he claims to lead to consider how policies and decisions affect people with protected characteristics, such as age and disability.
The three aims of the duty are to make sure that public authorities have due regard to the need to:
– put an end to unlawful behaviour that is banned by the Equality Act 2010, including discrimination, harassment and victimisation
– advance equal opportunities between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not
– foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not.
The way the Council normally makes decisions is through Officers making reports to the Mayor and Councillors, which include sections called Legal Implications and Equalities Implications.
Perry should share what advice – if any – he asked for and was given on the legal and equalities implications of closing the doors to Bernard Weatherill House to anyone without an appointment, before it’s dragged out of him by a Freedom of Information request and a complaint to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission
We cannot yet say with any certainty, because the council has so far failed to respond to the enquiry, but it seems unlikely that proper equalities impact assessments were conducted by the council in advance of the closure of Access Croydon.
Perhaps instead of/as well as Croydon librarians providing advice to the homeless, the libraries that Piss-Poor Perry closed could be used to house some of the homeless ?!
Mayor so far out of his depth
Resign
May I also advise that the Independent Housing Improvement Board were not advised of this decision nor were Tenant and Leaseholders who have been appointed to the Customer Influence Assurance Panel consulted in the detrimental affect of the Homeless or other Housing Services where they have a clear role of Governance.
Thanks, Les. That is obviously a very important piece of information.
In other words, Perry’s not listening
Just like remind people
we have a labour council.
They are the people that make most of
the decisions regarding what happens in Croydon.
Apart from your very poor use of the tab key in writing your comment, David, you are simply wrong on your facts, too.
Croydon has been under Conservative control since Perry won the mayoral election in May 2022.
Do try to keep up.