As the Isle of Wight Council embarks on its ‘transformation’ of social services, service staff and stakeholders complain that they have never been directly consulted or informed about the budget cuts and implications for services.
The Riverside Centre will respond on Saturday with their Riverside Stakeholder’s meeting to host ‘direct dialogue, not conversation through the media’.
“We have written repeatedly to officers of the Local Authority to seek clarification on the implications of the Budget proposals and have still yet to receive any response,” said Riverside Centre Manager Shirley Smart.
Staff anger has been most keenly felt at Quay Advocacy where, as reported in the County Press, six volunteers have resigned in response to a Council statement which Ms. Smart claims “has had serious implications for the reputation of the Riverside [and] the integrity of our officers.”
We spoke to Quay Advocacy’s manager, Lena Patterson, to find out more.
“Nasty taste in the mouth”
The council’s method of imposing cuts to social services has left a “‘nasty taste in the mouth” for Quay Advocacy manager Lena Patterson, who set up the service three years ago to aid and represent vulnerable Islanders and their carers.
This week, six of her volunteers (comprising half the staff), resigned in anger at the council’s handling of the budget cuts.
No direct dialogue
Lena found out about the cuts to her service by reading online documents:
“The council’s savings proposals came out in February and I downloaded them off their Website,” she said. “There has been no dialogue from the council to Quay Advocacy since that information about services being disbanded was given.”
Volunteers remain uncertain of what the impact of cuts will be. “It seems that half the service will no longer exist, but we still haven’t received a response on this,” Lena said.
Anger over contract claims
The Council sought to justify cuts on the basis that they failed to ‘meet the contractual agreement’ in the hours of service they deliver. It is this accusation that so angered service volunteers, resigning this week.
“‘It’s hard to put one’s heart into something that seems so little appreciated by those running the Council,” stated one advocate. Lena argues that the basis for the council’s criticism is false.
“The contract states that there should be a five day a week service Monday to Friday, which is what we deliver. They mention figures, but those figures are not in the contract.”
IWC fail in contractual obligation
Moreover, she states the council has failed in its own contractual obligation to carry out yearly inspection of the service: “There has only been one audit and that was carried out in June 2008.”
Council staff have also flouted their corporate standard of replying to queries within twenty days. On 5th February 2010 the Riverside Centre wrote to Director of Corporate Services and Monitoring Officer Davina Fiore, seeking clarification on the decision to cut Quay Advocacy, but have yet to receive a response.
What is at stake?
Lena set up Quay Advocacy three years ago to serve vulnerable people and their carers on the Island. “Since its inception we’ve had at least 281 referrals,” she said. “Many of those will be double referrals because we also support the carers.”
The service does everything from helping disabled clients in their homes to ‘giving a voice’ to those in need. “I’ve written as many as 32 letters for a single client. Vulnerable people are not taken seriously unless their case is made on headed notepaper, which shows that the community is behind them,” she said.
“We do everything from helping people with wheelchairs to arranging support for carers. We are talking about a service which is client led, which serves people in their own homes.”
“If the Council wanted to cut the service, they should have come to us and said so, but to make these accusations just leaves a nasty taste in the mouth,” she concluded.
