Swindon Carers CEO: 'It's been a challenging few days' amid closure news
Swindon Borough Council's leader Jim Robbins has met with leaders at the charity after they withdrew from the tendering process
Last updated 14th Aug 2024
We've been told that the closure of Swindon Carers Centre was 'avoidable' by the charity's CEO.
They withdrew from a tendering process of a new contract with Swindon Borough Council, as they felt it wasn't financially viable.
It's a blow to thousands of unpaid carers across the Borough, who they support, but in their statement earlier this week, reiterated that their priority now is to continue their work until December - when they close after nearly three decades.
The leader of Swindon Borough Council, Jim Robbins, has confirmed he's met with the bosses at the charity.
He said: "Pleased to have met with staff and trustees of Swindon Carer’s Centre today to continue discussions between the charity and the Council.
"Hopefully, we can find a way through the current challenges to keep the key support for Carers in place."
Well, this has all come about after the charity's Board unanimously agreed the risks going forward with the next round of contract negotiations would be too much of a risk.
'It's been a very challenging few days'
CEO Suzanne Jones told Greatest Hits Radio: "It's been a very challenging few days - telling our staff team, telling our carers, telling other grant funders - as we work with 18 of them.
"There are multiple stakeholders that we have to be in dialogue with - and we're just trying to be transparent with all of them.
"We have been raising concerns regarding the commissioning cycle with the local authority for the past 18 months.
"And this hasn't just been us - but with multiple other voluntary sector organisations.
"There does need to be some really clear dialogue, now, about learning from this as we cannot do due diligence and knowingly enter into a contract that would not be financially viable.
"At the end of the day, that would put carers at risk, it would put our staff team at risk, and it would put the organisation at risk if we had to hand that contract back - so of course we can't do that."
Both of Swindon's Labour MPs have also commented, with both Heidi Alexander (Swindon South) and Will Stone (Swindon North) saying they are 'saddened', adding they are doing what they can to ensure a continuity of care for residents of the Borough.
'Our priority is ensuring continuity of support'
A statement from Swindon Borough Council and the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board said: “It’s standard practice to run a competitive procurement process to commission services and we started this for our carer services contract earlier this year. We terminated that process on 6 August following a review and notified Swindon Carers Centre and other providers that we wanted to work with them to strengthen and reissue the tender in response to provider feedback.
“In the interim, we offered a short-term contract to the Carers Centre with the same annual value as their existing one, with reduced responsibilities. We were disappointed to be notified that the Carers Centre has decided not to accept this offer and didn’t enter into a conversation to propose an alternative.
“Our priority is ensuring continuity of support for carers across Swindon who play such a vital and valued role. We will work closely with the Carers Centre until December to ensure this.”
The contract which they say is unviable has been delivered by the SCC, alongside the Local Authority/Bath and North East Somerset Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board, since 1997.
These carers support family members and friends with poor physical or mental health, disabilities or addictions - with the site actually seeing a 12% increase in the number of carers registering with the organisation, showcasing the growing demand for support.
Despite the contract being their main source of income, bosses say they have worked 'exceptionally hard' to diversify this - securing more than £370,000 worth of Grants with 18 Trusts and Foundations, managing in total 21 of them.
Despite Swindon Borough Council asking the Centre to continue providing service for an extra year, bosses still felt the 'risks were far too great' to do so.
'Clearly there are questions to answer'
Hannah Crawley, SCC Chair of Trustees, said: “Providing high-quality, carer driven services across Swindon has been the priority for everyone who has worked at Swindon Carers Centre over the last 27 years.
"We are hugely proud of the dedication, commitment and expertise our team has shown in the services we have delivered so successfully. We have serious concerns about the lack of clarity now over how carers will be supported from January 2025.”
Susanna Jones, SCC CEO, said: “This is heartbreaking for Swindon Carers Centre, its staff, volunteers and Trustee Board. We are exceptionally proud of the high-quality service we have delivered for more than a quarter of a century and have been incredibly connected with the carer community in Swindon as a trusted provider throughout that time.
"Clearly there are questions to answer around the commissioning decisions which have led to this entirely avoidable situation.
"Our priority now is to continue to provide quality support for the many thousands of carers in Swindon until the end of December and focus all efforts on ensuring there is a clear plan for statutory carer support from January 2025.
"It is vital the amazing carers in Swindon continue to be recognised, valued and championed for everything they do. We will miss working with them very much.”
Kirsty McHugh, Chief Executive of Carers Trust, the national charity that operates a network of over 130 local carer-support organisations of which Swindon Carers Centre is a member, said: “SCC is a great example of a high-quality local Carers Centre that has delivered value to the people of Swindon for over 27 years.
"The loss of such deep local experience and knowledge is tragic. Sadly, the situation in Swindon is symptomatic of a wider issue across the UK where both unpaid carers, and the organisations supporting them, are under-valued and under-funded.
"Unpaid carers are propping up our creaking health and social care systems and it’s organisations like Swindon Carers Centre that ensure carers are supported. It’s shortsighted to lose that vital local support.”