MUTUAL RUNS ADULT CARE
New staff-owned company set up to protect services in Salford after series of government funding cuts
AJOHN Lewis-style company set up to provide social care in a radical move by Salford town hall has been launched.
The staff-owned notfor-profit company, set up to ‘protect’ £11m worth of adult social care services, is based at the Humphrey Booth Centre in Swinton.
Aspire, set up by 375 Salford council staff, will run a range of services previously handled by the town hall under a new five-year deal.
The ‘social enterprise mutual’ will deliver services to around 800 vulnerable people with complex needs.
Council bosses hope it will both save money and improve services. But Unison members have warned it could be the ‘first step’ towards mass privatisation.
The employee-owned company will be able to bid for grants and contracts elsewhere to bring in extra cash. Initially, it will cost the council more as services bed in, but it could net the town hall £700,000 by 2020 – and the company itself £375,000.
Council chiefs say it is the only alternative to privatisation or cutting services even further, having slashed the budget for those with ‘substantial’ or complex needs by £2m since 2011.
Since 2011, £21m has been cut from adult social care. All other services are being handed over to Salford Royal as council bosses pool cash with NHS chiefs.
Aspire will handle services including specialist day services and centres; respite and intermediate care; rehabilitation services; supported tenancies; and adult placement, similar to foster care for adults.
Salford mayor Ian Stewart said: “We have a growing and ageing population in Salford and many adults with complex health and social care needs. Many of the services we developed to support them are specialised and unique and we have built up considerable staff expertise in delivering them.
“Demand is rising, yet our core government funding has been reduced significantly. We couldn’t see those invaluable services and people lost to the city, which is why we gave our backing to the mutual. It’s a radical idea, but will protect services for the most vulnerable in our city.
“People using these services will see no change, other than the uniforms the staff now wear. They will see the same people, receive the same services delivered with the same caring ethos but can expect better prospects for the future than if the services had stayed with the council.”
Unison branch secretary Steve North warned the mutual, if it doesn’t generate expected income, will ‘find itself in a bidding war with the private sector’ to run services.