SCC learning disability service changes

At this month’s full council meeting of Somerset County Council, planned changes to social care service provision, in particular those related to the care of those with learning disabilities, attracted considerable attention.

The intention is that I future the service will be contracted out to social enterprise, Dimensions. The issue, as might be expected, generated a large number of questions. The concerns expressed, mainly by members of the union Unison, focused on the impact of the planned changes put forward by Dimensions.

Their unease largely concentrated on changes to staff pay and conditions, in addition to the planned closure of some day centres and the challenge of providing continuity of care for this vulnerable group of people. Dimensions maintain that cuts are needed to reduce costs, although if it is to be believed, this was not intended to be the key driver for transferring the service. I must admit that any time I hear the phrase, ‘transformation and re-structure’, my heart sinks. I am hard pushed to think of any instance where this has had a positive outcome. Despite denials, it would be gullible of us to think that the real issue is anything other than funding cuts.

Earlier in the week I, along with around 100 others, attended a Learning Disability Partnership Board open day. We spent much of the time listening to presentations from both service users and providers. Personally, I found it all rather too cosy, especially when through my support of others, I have had first-hand experience of providers, both within social services and outside, that continually fail to deliver on their promises. 

There is plenty of evidence that far from decreasing, demand for services is increasing at a time when it is becoming impossible to continue to maintain the same level of service we might have had the benefit of in the past.

Where funding a whole range of services is concerned, in the case of Somerset County Council, the issue of the ongoing cost of servicing loan debts taken out by previous administrations cannot be ignored; the fact that no alternative budget or amendments were put forward by the critics did not go unnoticed. To compound the situation what we are seeing, sadly, is central government increasingly putting the onus on local authorities to bear the brunt, and taking all the flak for it.

I understand the requirement to balance the needs of those who make use of services, such as schools and health care, with those, like myself, who use very few services, despite making a financial contribution towards them. It may well be a judgment call, and a tough one, but it is people’s lives we are concerned with here. As a single working person, I know that the time will come when I will need to access some of these services. Rather selfishly, what I am worried about is that when the time comes there will still be money in the budget to provide me with what, having been a tax payer for many years, I feel I am entitled to receive.

How we manage the challenges ahead remains to be seen. There are no easy answers. What I will say though, is that it is easy to criticise, but what we should all be doing is working together to find a solution.