“Save our Social Care Workers” Protecting our Most Vulnerable at Risk Children, Adults and Elderly Residents in Harrow

This Petition calls on the Conservative-run Harrow Council to immediately reverse the proposed reduction to nearly 45 social care workers protecting our most vulnerable children, adults and elderly residents in our community.

At the Harrow Full Council Meeting on Thursday 23rd February, Conservative Councillors running the Council voted through ‘dangerous’ budget cuts to social care in our community whilst at the same time increasing Council Tax by 12% despite three quarters of residents (75%) opposing the budget proposals during consultation.

Conservative Councillors have announced mass staffing reductions of up to 21 posts to our social care and supervisory oversight workers responsible for keeping safe the most vulnerable children at risk in our borough. With rapidly increasing caseloads the Council are cutting in half the budget which is a staffing reduction of £1.5m to redesign the support on offer to local families potentially leaving protection at a ‘dangerous risk rating’.

Adult Social Care and Mental Health Services have not avoided the Conservative budget cuts where the Council are cutting £4.5m from vital services over three years – Services cut back or closed include;

• Domiciliary and dementia care
• Care packages and increased client contributions
• Safeguarding teams.
• Local neighbourhood resource centres
• The new Bentley and Wiseworks day care centres

Very little information has been made public with no mention of how residents will be impacted. This mass staffing cut is likely to see a further 24 local adult social care and supervisory oversight workers lose their jobs. This is a kick in the stomach to hard working staff at the Council. This will make access to Council support even harder.

The Harrow Conservative Councillors have also decided to invest £700k in more PR, Spin Doctors and political messaging at the Council over the next 3 years whilst at the same time cutting huge numbers of local social care workers demonstrates they have the wrong priorities at the wrong time.

The Harrow Labour Party is joining up with local residents and concerned community groups to petition against these dangerous proposals and call for them to be reversed.

Please sign the petition. The more signatories, the more our voice will be heard.

The Leader of the Labour Group, Councillor David Perry said:

“I am deeply concerned that these savage cuts by the local Conservatives to vital support for our most at risk vulnerable adults and children in Harrow will badly impact service users and their families. Having reviewed the Council budget documentation, I fear local services are going to be left in a dangerous position as the mitigations identified in the savings proposals are weak in comparison to the significant risks identified. This must be stopped”.