A plan to shut down care centres crucial to the lives of vulnerable people has been put on hold.
In June, Wirral Evolutions proposed the closure of two day care centres, Highcroft Day Centre in Bebington and Cambridge Road in New Brighton, as it needed to save £500,000 to meet its budget.
This angered some of those who rely on the service for their own, or their family’s, quality of life.
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But tonight’s meeting of Wirral Council’s Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee voted to go back to the drawing board and work with Wirral Evolutions, a company in which Wirral Council is the sole shareholder, to find a solution to its financial problems.
This means the council must give the company £500,000 more this year to help it meet its budget gap, which is set to come from a social care grant received by the local authority.
Tonight’s committee meeting heard from George Lamb, 28, whose nephew Kieran Kneen, 21, is disabled and goes to Highcroft Day Centre five days per week.
Mr Lamb conducted a survey on what people in Bebington thought about the possible closure of Highcroft.
He told the committee that every parent and primary carer who responded said the centre’s closure would have a negative impact on their family’s wellbeing.
Mr Lamb added: “It gives opportunities [to carers to do things] such as respite, work, household chores, shopping, seeing family members and socialising.”
He wanted Wirral Council to push Wirral Evolutions to find ways to raise money so that it does not have to close centres and asked the committee to take service users' views into account when making decisions about the future of day centres.
These comments echoed Mr Lamb’s points at the June committee, when he said: “These day centres play a vital part in the lives of the vulnerable people who use them. They provide routine and security and most importantly the opportunity to socialise.”
In the summer, he set up a petition which has attracted 1,255 signatures, showing the strength of feeling on this issue.
Cllr Kate Cannon, who represents Labour, was happy that jobs and centres were not up for the axe at the moment.
She added: “I hope all the guests today are reassured by this interim review.”
Fellow Labour councillor Yvonne Nolan said: “I hope people are reassured that nothing is going to close right now, we are not suddenly going to see a reduction in staff.
“They [day centres] are in a steady state while we look at governance.”
Cllr Jason Walsh, who represents Bebington, said it was important for Wirral Evolutions to use more “entrepreneurial spirit” to create more income, which he wanted to be used to keep Wirral’s day centres open.
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The Green Party councillor highlighted one response from Mr Lamb’s survey on day centres, which read: “It gives my son a life.”
Cllr Walsh added: “If we reduce the overall number of centres, are we taking that away? We should have that at the heart of this debate?"
