Council homes to be transferred

A Best Value review of residential homes for older people in
Norfolk has led to the resurrection of a plan to transfer homes to
the independent sector.

The same plan was abandoned two years ago due to public
opposition. Seven recently modernised homes are set to be the first
to transfer with the rest likely to follow.

The review concludes: “Any continued provision of residential
services by the council should only be done on the understanding
that costs are reduced in line with the fees paid to independent
providers of residential services.”

Norfolk Council, whose homes have 1,138 places, put costs at the
modernised residential homes at £210 per resident per week
compared with £170 in the independent sector.

Unison branch secretary Jonathan Dunning said the comparison was
misleading because many people in the council’s residential homes
would in fact be accommodated in more expensive nursing homes in
the independent sector and warned that savings would be at the
expense of members’ jobs.