Bromley care workers fight privatisation and job cuts

Care workers in Bromley, south east London, will fight plans to end elderly and disabled home care, following a workplace meeting of 100 carers on Monday 16 August.

Bromley currently provides 5,000 home care visits a week to residents deemed to be in "severe or critical" need of care. This service is provided by 146 low paid, part time home helpers who are vetted and trained by the council.

Council management is now proposing that councillors hand over the whole of this service to private profit making agencies.

Despite the council's own surveys, showing that 96% were satisfied with the service, it looks as if the residents of Bromley are not even being consulted about whether they want the change or not.

Elected staff representative Glenn Kelly said: "At a time when all the talk is about giving residents more control and choice over their services, it seems Bromley's management will be saying to the elderly of the borough 'you can have any service you like as long as it is not from us!'"

It is now anticipated that up to 60% of the home care staff will face the risk of redundancy despite having given literally hundreds of years of service between them.

"This is the brutal reality of the cuts in public services, it's not the senior management that will suffer but the low paid and the most needy in our borough," said Glenn.

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In The Socialist 18 August 2010:

Action now to defeat cuts!