Barnet Council is considering a future operating model for Adult Social Care with the aim of reducing demand for Council funded Adult Social Care Services. People will be expected to rely more on family, friends and community resources. Barnet Council is also considering changes to its Children’s Services that would be run by a not-for-profit organisation as an alternative to keeping the service in-house.

Elderly people will be encouraged to remain in their own homes. It is suggested they get support by using Homeshare, a scheme whereby people share the elderly person’s home free of charge in return for providing about 10 hours of support per week with shopping or housework.

Voluntary organisations may be asked to provide more services, which could be difficult as their funding has been cut. Voluntary organisations often used to lobby on issues such as mental health provision and services for people with learning difficulties. It is very hard to do this if the organisation has become a service provider for Barnet Council.

Barnet Council is looking for an alternative delivery service model for Adult Social Care that will deliver savings of £1.96million, which will be presented to the Adults and Safeguarding Committee in early 2016. The cost to the well-being and safety of the Barnet vulnerable residents affected by these funding cuts has not been calculated by Barnet Council.

Unfortunately Barnet Council has limited scope in reducing cost of care services provided by external suppliers, which amounts to 80% of expenditure for Barnet Council’s Adult Social Care Services. Perhaps they might have spent less money, had more control of the budget and provided better care if they had not outsourced so many Adult Social Care Services.

Permanent employees of Barnet Council are becoming increasingly concerned about their job security. There is a 20% vacancy rate across Adult and Children’s Social Services and considerable numbers of locum agency social workers are being employed.

So, who will be caring for vulnerable Barnet residents from 2016?

Janet Leifer

Campaign Against the Destruction of Disabled Support Services (CADDSS)