CROYDON IN CRISIS: Carers accuse council and their new contractors of trying to distort the findings of a supposedly independent quality inspection. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
Croydon’s carers, already reeling from the changes imposed on their services by Mayor Jason Perry’s council without any consultation, have accused the new service providers, Carers First, and the council of deliberately trying to influence a supposedly independent inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
“They want to nobble the inspectors – and lead them to believe that the Carers’ Support Centre is not as cherished and valued as we all know it to be,” one carer said.
Inside Croydon first reported in February the cash-strapped council’s decision to hand part of its carers’ service contract to Carers First, a commercial business based in Kent, thus ending more than a decade of service provided through the Croydon-based charity, the Whitgift Foundation. The future of the Croydon Carers’ Support Centre on George Street remains in doubt: providing a community hub for carers was not part of Carers First bid.
This week, two of the centre’s experienced managers were put on notice of redundancy, as Carers First seeks to claw back some of the additional costs it has incurred through keeping the centre open. This is despite Mayor Perry and Croydon Council having promised a “seamless” transition and no job cuts. Now, almost a quarter of Carers’ Centre staff seem likely to lose their jobs.
The carers services provided by Croydon Council, through various contractors, is subject to periodic reviews by the Care Quality Commission. A visit from inspectors was expected even before Carers First moved into Croydon.
Protests: Croydon’s carers have continued to lobby against the threat of closure of the George Street centre
And some Croydon carers accuse Carers First of seeking to influence the outcome of that inspection by hand-selecting those who the CQC inspectors get to speak with.
Toby Lee-Manning, Carers First’s regional head, is understood to have issued an email seeking 10 volunteers to offer what some suggest are “positive” experiences of the service.
The carers were due to be interviewed over the phone at the end of April. The interviews would then be used as part of CQC’s assessment.
According to public data, Croydon has more than 28,000 residents providing some form of unpaid care. Before the Carers First takeover, Croydon’s Carers’ Support Centre had more than 6,500 registered carers on its database. So the notion that just 10 carers, hand-picked by the recently appointed council contractor, might provide a reliable account of the state of the service in this borough seems, at best, fanciful. At worst, it could be seen as a deliberate effort to distort the independent inspectors’ findings.
Carers have also been receiving phone calls from the Carers First remote call centre questioning their roles, especially if they are “former carers”.
“The Carers’ Centre team always welcomed former carers, valuing the peer-to-peer support and lived experience they bring and their generous contribution in volunteering roles,” according to one carer.
“It is inappropriate and disrespectful to describe former carers as being ‘dependent’ on the service.”
A series of meetings at the Carers’ Support Centre have been held by Carers First, run by their own execs, including Lee-Manning.
“The questions have been ‘leading ones’, so they can present their findings as ‘this is what carers want’,” one attendee told Inside Croydon.
And Croydon Council has had its staff in for “coaching” sessions ahead of the CQC inspection, providing them with the lines that they want conveyed. Attendance was compulsory.
There remains widespread suspicion that Croydon Council will also be putting forward the names of carers from different teams, in an effort to avoid CQC meeting and speaking with those who make use of the Carers’ Support Centre. “If CQC don’t get to speak to people directly impacted by the centre issue, Mayor Perry and his council think they will have got away with it.”
Mayor Perry, as well as Croydon Council’s propaganda bunker and Carers First were all contacted for comment about the redundancies.
None of them could be bothered to respond.
Read more: Carers First move to axe managers’ jobs from Croydon centre
Read more: Perry confronted outside Town Hall over Carers’ Centre closure
Read more: ‘Council is gas-lighting us over support services’ say carers
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Before joining Carers First, Toby learned how to be a “death doula”. That’s someone who helps people face up to their shuffling off this mortal coil. And what better way to do that than team up with part-time Perry on his Quixotic crusade for cuts
The tupe staff have lap tops and mobile phones issued to them by Carers first, to do their work. On phoning a mobile number given on an email from one of the staff ; it went to voice mail and the name on the message was not that of the member of staff on the email! Also as of Wednesday 7th May there was no printer or photocopier for the staff to use at the centre.