Care cuts branded a 'bonfire of services'

Cuts to adult social care in Derbyshire have been described as a "bonfire of services".

Derbyshire County Council recently announced a raft of cuts in four key areas - care homes, learning disability centres, home support and community group funding.

The Conservative-led council said it needed to make £30m worth of cuts this year to balance the books - and adult and child social care continued to be one of its most significant financial pressures.

But Labour leader Joan Dixon has said the impact of the cuts on the county's most vulnerable residents will be "devastating".

She added: “It feels like the Conservative administration, because of their financial mismanagement are having a bonfire of the services and are no longer improving lives for local people.”

About 63% of the council’s £750m budget is spent on social care.

A recent report on the council’s finances said adult social care is over budget by about £24m.

The council said the overspend was mainly due to the cost of care packages after a rise in demand last year.

Leader of the council Barry Lewis recently said county councils like Derbyshire were in danger of becoming “little more than care authorities”.

Concerns have been raised in particular at the uncertainty which surrounds the 40-bed Ada Belfield centre in Belper, which opened in 2020 at a cost of £11m.

But it is facing £2m shortfall in funding next year and a consultation is now set to be launched on its future.

Lewis recently singled out the centre to demonstrate how the authority is losing money on care services - as the cost of keeping it open is almost double the funding it receives.

"It would be irresponsible therefore for options not to be considered on this building,” Lewis said.

Jane Nutt's 102-year-old mother Margaret Patricia Britland was moved into Ada Belfied before Christmas last year, when her previous home in Matlock closed.

Mrs Nutt said it came as a shock that the council were seeking to end use of the residential beds.

She added: "It's somewhere she loves. It's caused devastation in the home.

"Mum kept a local pub in Matlock so she knows hundreds of people, and they pop in and see her."

Mrs Nutt and her husband Mick said they would be unable to afford private care if Mrs Britland had to move.

"We are in our eighties, we are not in a position to pay a penny. We have just moved to a small flat because we can’t cope… we aren’t in brilliant health," she said.

"It’s a very upsetting situation. Why are they closing it? It’s brand new."

Mrs Britland's family said her health had deteriorated since she was told she might have to move and she has collapsed.

They have blamed the stress of the uncertainty surrounding her mother.

Plans to shut eight authority-run care homes and five dementia day centres have also been approved.

The authority faced months of opposition to the plans, but said demand for places in residential homes has fallen as more people now prefer to remain at home and it needs to “focus resources on providing care for people with dementia”.

The care homes and dementia day centres will shut and be sold off as a result.

Seven other residential homes and centres will remain open, but their future is soon to be under further consideration in a bid to save the council about £6m.

Alison Richard's mother Mary Marlow, 83, lives at the Grange in Eckington which is among the homes set to close.

She was previously moved from the Spinney in Brimington, which also closed two years ago.

Alison believes her mother's health has started to decline due to the threat of the Grange being closed.

She said: "It's just an awful time. We're coming up to Christmas, it should be a nice time.

"They’ve completely slammed the door on people... there's going to be no security."

Four short break centres for people with learning disabilities, namely Petersham, Victoria Street, Hadfield Road and Newhall Bungalow, will also close.

The council said closing both the day and short break centres would save about £6m – although in the short term, it will be a much smaller saving given one-off payments for staff redundancies and decommissioning the service.

Grants for community groups which help vulnerable and isolated people who may have care needs will also be cut.

The authority said it needed to redistribute the funding of just under £1m a year to statutory services instead.

However, it acknowledged some residents would become more isolated as a result of the grant cuts and it may have more difficulty reaching people from an ethnic minority background if community groups that catered for them could not continue.

Ludwig Ramsey, who is a Labour councillor on Derbyshire County Council, also runs the African and Caribbean Community Centre in Chesterfield, which he said provided social activities and food deliveries for up to 600 people every month.

The centre received an annual £20,000 grant towards its running costs but that will now disappear - leaving the association now considering running out of a volunteer's house instead.

"They've got no way of reaching [ethnic minority] communities now," Mr Ramsey said.

"That's what they'll be losing... now they'll speak to no one."

The council also plans to close four learning day centres - Alderbrook, No Limits, Outlook and Parkwood - as part of an ongoing redesign of day care for people with disabilities.

Changes are also set to be made to a programme to support people on low incomes with social care needs and long-term health conditions made worse by the cold.

Support could include installing heating and energy efficiency measures, providing personal items to help people keep warm and accessing funding.

The Derbyshire Healthy Home Project had more than 300 referrals in 2023, mostly for those over the age of 65.

However, eligibility will now be limited to only those who have been assessed as having care needs according to the authority’s legal obligations.

The service will also reduce its staffing. There is uncertainty about funding for the service from June 2026 onwards.

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