Reprieve hopes for Inverclyde resource centre

Staff and clients are this week hoping for a last minute
reprieve for an Inverclyde resource centre for people with learning
difficulties which is threatened with closure, writes
Derren Hayes.

Two care staff are being made redundant and ten clients will be
forced to find an alternative day care centre if the Impact Project
centre closes on Friday 28 March as planned.

The project, which has, for 15 years, been helping people with
learning difficulties develop employment skills, is managed by the
Inverclyde Community Development Trust, which says that council
grants are no longer enough to provide a quality service.

However, Maureen Isherwood, advocacy worker for the Project,
said she has been in discussions with Inverclyde social services
about the possibility of delaying the closure a few months so
clients’ needs can be properly assessed and alternative
placements found.

“We have been given only four weeks notice of this closure,”
Isherwood said. “It is going to be a big upheaval for many of these
people and they need proper profiling of their needs,” she
added.

Jim Bristow, executive co-ordinator for the trust, said problems
had arisen because the council had been unable to “bridge the gap”
in funding lost when a Social Inclusion Partnership grant was
withdrawn last year.

He said the trust was trying to find alternative centres for the
clients to attend but couldn’t guarantee that would happen
before the centre closed.