• CONSERVATIVE council cuts are biting again this year with Westminster planning to make £500,000 in staffing cuts for officers supporting the elderly and vulnerable.

The axe is falling on the council’s adult social care commissioning team with the removal of one director post and 13 senior managers who have the responsibility for finding and managing city council contracts, as well as end the use of agency staff in the team.

While we welcome the decision to end the use of high-paid consultants and the use of agency staff for other senior roles, it is hugely worrying that the extent of the cuts mean they will not be replaced by full-time officers (who are considerably better value for money) to manage this important workload.

There is real concern these cuts will have an impact on services to residents, as it will mean less contract monitoring and scrutiny of service providers.

The reduction on the commissioning team will impact not only adult social care but also public health teams, including the teams that commission sexual health services and drugs and alcohol services.

These are multi-million pound contracts. Endless reorganisation and the requirement for teams to reapply for the jobs also has a very poor effect on staff morale and further lowers efficiency.

Labour is also concerned about plans that some residents who currently receive three home care visits a day, will be strongly encouraged in future to receive only two, with the middle visit being substituted by a phone call from family to serve as a “check-in” or a reminder to take medication.

How safe these substitutions will turn out to be remains to be seen. We know already there are vulnerable people in Westminster not receiving the level of care they need. These latest cuts will reduce care even further.

We need a Labour council in Westminster that will fight back against the Conservative government’s failure to properly fund adult social care.

CLLR ADAM HUG
Leader, Labour Group