"We Council employees give these old and disabled people that we transport the time, patience, consideration and love that they need and rightly deserve…that is our council culture. That is most definitely not the culture of market forces. Our old and disabled will suffer! Shame on you, Ian Stewart and friends." Driver
Today, lawyers from Irwin Mitchell, representing Michael Robson, who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, are taking Salford Council to the High Court seeking a judicial review into the cuts for specialist transport for people with severe disabilities.
The lawyers will accuse Salford Council of a `failure to assess' a `flawed consultation' and a `breach of equality duty' (see previous Salford Star article for a full background – click here)
Last night, Salford City UNISON, which represents drivers and escorts for the Passenger Transport Service, backed the legal action and issued a statement outlining its own members' concerns...
"Salford City Council wishes to close the Passenger Transport Service for people with severe disabilities to take to and from Day Centres and other places for rehabilitation. A Save Our Transport Campaign has organised a series of meetings, events and protests to ask the Council to reconsider. The loss of this service will put a huge pressure not only on the service users but their families and carers.
"The Council ignored these pleas and organised for the Service to be withdrawn despite a lack of meaningful consultation, poor assessments and considerable health and safety risks. Furthermore, our members in the Passenger Transport Unit (drivers, escorts and admin staff) UNISON are extremely disappointed that the Council have failed to organise a meaningful consultation with the workforce"
The union states that a thirty day consultation with workers began on the 3rd July, to which the unions submitted a response on the 5th August. On the 18th August Council Management responded to the TU alternative proposal and the final report from the Council including the TU response was to be discussed at the Workforce Panel on the 2nd September for a final decision but was deferred.
The UNISON statement adds "In early August the Council wrote to all service users withdrawing the Passenger Transport Service from the 29th August. How can the Council say they have had a meaningful consultation when they have withdrawn the Service before Workforce Panel meets to consider the TU alternative?
"The Council, who are responsible for the care of service users who live in supported tenancies, withdrew the Passenger Transport Service and replaced them with a private taxi service and supported tenancy staff acting as escorts, during the staff consultation period...
"Our members believe that the Council has acted prematurely in closing the Service and demonstrated that they have failed to meaningfully consult on the proposals. In their own staff consultation report they confirmed 117 service users were still accessing the Passenger Transport Service in March 2014.
"Our members wholeheartedly support the efforts made by service users to seek a judicial review of the decision to close this service and until this is done they would request that all service users who have been removed from the Service in the last 6 months are contacted and offered transport until a legal decision is made. Our members would be happy to contact service users to offer the service."
The statement ends with quotes from UNISON members involved in the Passenger Transport Service...
"I feel extremely saddened by the Council's callous attempt to remove a vital service that the service users depend on. To make it worse the Council have a moto `Get a life not a service'. Shame on the Council." Escort worker
"I have personally found it to be upsetting when clients are telling me they are unsure if they have transport or not and I don't know how to respond because I don't know myself. Some get emotionally upset which in turn upsets me, making my job harder because of all the stress. I should be a happy face taking the client out for an enjoyable day but it's hard to keep a smiley disposition when your life is in as much turmoil as the clients over the transport situation." Driver
"I took this girl to school and college and then to a day centre, after she left education. And now the family feels abandoned by the Council and are finding too hard to find transport that doesn't disrupt their lives as they have other family members that they have to care for." Escort worker
"I love the job and would not swap it for the world. We are not paid a lot but the money is not the issue. The satisfaction and reward seeing our service users happy is enough. But the way the Council is destroying the service means I could lose the job. I can always get another but our service user would be more disadvantaged by losing their service and being made a prisoner in their own homes. It's a disgrace!" Driver.
"I am saddened and very disappointed - and a little disillusioned - that an elected Labour authority is pushing through the privatisation of the social care for Salford's old and disabled citizens. In practice the Labour authority is acting as the Tory's hatchet man. From my experiences over many decades, once you privatise caring for vulnerable people the `care' as the priority goes out the window; it becomes all about cutting corners to make the maximum profits! We Council employees give these old and disabled people that we transport the time, patience, consideration and love that they need and rightly deserve…that is our council culture. That is most definitely not the culture of market forces. Our old and disabled will suffer! Shame on you, Ian Stewart and friends." Driver
The Salford Star will bring full details of the High Court hearing as soon as it is concluded...
* Photo shows Michael Robson and mum Mary Robson
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