A day centre threatened with closure has been a success story for the council with those using it and their families said to feel “overwhelmingly positive” about Wellington House.
But senior Labour councillors want to close the service and sell the building, breaking up a group of the most vulnerable adults in Brighton and Hove in an effort to save £400,000 a year.
A report to a Brighton and Hove City Council committee said that the sums weren’t adding up, with savings forecast to be less than £340,000 a year.
And families said that it was impossible to put a price on the friendships and social connections built up among the 21 vulnerable adults at Wellington House and the staff who care for them.
The savings might not materialise at all, a union warned, if even just one carer felt no longer able to care for an adult who currently attended the day centre.
Conservative and Green councillors contrasted the Labour council’s drive to privatise the day centre with the views of new Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Mr Burnham is a strong critic of private-sector care and has said that he would like to set up a National Care Service along the lines of the National Health Service.
Tory councillor Alistair McNair was baffled why Labour was so keen to privatise Wellington House when the party was otherwise so keen to nationalise services or “bring them in-house”.
Councillor Alistair McNair said that the council had been willing to spend millions of pounds extra bringing housing repairs in-house yet the closure of Wellington House was unlikely even to save £340,000.
The Conservative leader said that the building was described in a report as “no longer fit for purpose”. He asked whether the decline was “managed” given how few people were referred there.
He said: “It usually takes years for a building to deteriorate to the point when it’s not fit for purpose.
“Why has it been allowed to deteriorate (and) over how many years? When was the decision make to close Wellington House? Was it at (the budget council meeting in February) or was it two or three years ago?”
The council advertised contracts worth £12.8 million to provide the service on Monday 12 January this year.
This was more than a month before the council set its budget in February and more than three months before the start of the formal consultation on plans to close the service in April.
Labour councillor Mitchie Alexander, the council’s cabinet member for adult social care, said that quite a bit of money had been spent on the building but it was old, with leaks and damp patches.
The council’s director of adult social care Steve Hook said that maintenance was continuing because it was essential that the building remained safe.
The report to councillors said that the day centre’s overall running costs were £803,000 a year.
Mr Hook said that the bill for repairs and maintenance totalled £74,000 in 2023-24, £84,500 in 2024-25 and £96,500 in 2025-26.
Councillors discussed the proposed closure for almost four hours at a special meeting of the council’s People Overview and Scrutiny Committee at Hove Town Hall last Friday (4 September).
One of those observing the meeting said that similar arguments had been deployed when the council proposed closing Hove Library.
Labour councillors had cited the expense of running an old building and said that it needed urgent repairs that would cost more than £750,000. Public opinion prevailed and the library remained open.
Green councillor Ellen McLeay also contrasted Labour’s criticisms of privatisation and private-sector provision elsewhere with its enthusiasm to ditch the publicly provided day centre.
Councillor McLeay said: “Private providers have leaner running costs so that is one way of looking at it – and maybe there are some savings.
“But that is what was said about privatising trains and water companies and that doesn’t always end up working out so great.”
She said that the council was trying to bring temporary and emergency housing in-house because, according to the Labour leadership, reliance on the private sector had resulted in multimillion-pound overspends.
Councillor McLeay also said that the report to the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee did not reflect the “overwhelming” opposition to the proposals – but emphasised that the consultation was not a referendum.
She said: “This is a really difficult decision. I’m sure it doesn’t sit well with any of you.”
Labour councillor Amanda Evans asked about contingency plans in case the transition process failed because that would require the council to step in.
Councillor Evans said: “Anyone who can provide ‘appropriate care’ that will work for that person with their incredibly complex needs will have the authority over a barrel, saying, ‘yeah, we can fix this, that will be half a million per person please.
“We won’t have anything to fall back on, as it were.”
Mr Hook said that, of the 21 people being “reallocated”, eight had more complex needs and the planning around their support would need to be “robust and thorough”.
The committee voted to ask the council’s cabinet to recommend that everyone using the day centre at Wellington House had their annual needs assessment completed within six months.
They called for the most vulnerable users to be identified in a timely manner and for their assessments to be completed as a priority.
Councillor Alexander apologised to families for the anxiety that the process had caused, saying: “Change often brings about anxiety and none of us want to see the anxiety felt by the families, carers and staff at the moment.
“I do personally apologise that our recommendation to the cabinet – as stated in the report – will no doubt heighten the emotions felt.”
She told the committee that the closure of Wellington House would be a “carefully managed transition process” with each individual’s needs, preferences and friendships given consideration.
Councillor Alexander said that the proposals were not about reducing the opportunities for adults with learning disabilities in the city. Instead, they were about providing alternative services.
The recommendation to move those cared for at Wellington House to new providers and close the day centre followed a 12-week consultation from April to July.
The families of all 21 people who use the day centre responded to the consultation and the council received 62 other responses.
A final decision is due to be made by the council’s cabinet on Thursday 17 September but a public notice last month said that the council had already awarded a series of contracts to nine providers.
The council notice said that it had awarded five-year contracts worth £12.8 million for day services from last Tuesday (1 September) to the end of August 2031. Providers could be given a three-year contract extension to 2034.
Spread over eight years, the annual cost would be £1.6 million a year, twice the current £803,000-a-year cost. Over five years, it would be £2.56 million a year – or more than £100,000 each for the 21 adults who currently use Wellington House, three times the current annual cost.
The contracts are “spot purchase” – the same type that Labour blamed for the spiralling overspends on temporary and emergency housing.
They have been awarded to nine providers
- Achieve Together Limited
- Down Syndrome Development Trust
- The Grace Eyre Foundation
- Independent Lives (Disability)
- Rocket Artists Studios Community Interest Company
- Salutem LD Bidco IV Limited
- Surrey Choices Limited
- Team Domenica
- Headway Sussex Limited
The committee was told that, before the new contracts were awarded, six organisations were providing day support to 134 of the 155 adults in need of such services in Brighton and Hove.
Councillors were also told that Wellington House cost the council £244 per person per day whereas the costs at alternative providers ranged from £60 to £199 a day, reflecting different needs.
The Green and Conservative members of the committee called on the cabinet not to proceed with the recommendation to close Wellington House.
They called for a comprehensive assessment of the need for learning disability day services, not least with the Labour government at Westminster committed to making changes to adult social care.
On Friday, Labour councillors in Brighton and Hove voted to reject their plea.
There were also calls for the contractors to pay the real living wage, in line with council pay, plus pensions and holidays for day centre workers, but they were told that the council could not set wages for third-party providers.
The cabinet is due to decide whether to close the day centre at a meeting at Hove Town Hall at 10.30am on Thursday 17 September. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast.
