Tomorrow, 17th March, two contracts are to be discussed by Salford Council's Procurement Board – which is basically the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor, Councillors Hinds and Boshell and a load of officers.
On the agenda are extensions to contracts for Barnado's Short Break Care - `A range of out of school activities for disabled children, including those with complex autism' and the DISC Family Intervention Programme - `Intensive Support for families with complex needs'.
In total, the Short Break Care budget is being slashed by over £110,000 for 2015/16 and, as part of this, Barnado's is taking a £47,532 cut in its contract, or 27%. Meanwhile DISC is facing a £38,000 cut in its contract. Both of which will affect families in totally negative ways.
As part of the official process to hand out contracts, the Council has to take legal advice. In this case it was supplied by the Deputy Head of Children and Families (Legal) Group, who states that the decision to axe budgets was made before any consultation took place...
"Consultation to date has been to explain the reasons for making the decision and to identify the need to mitigate any impact" she writes "It would appear there has not been consultation on the proposal to reduce expenditure itself...
"You might wish to give consideration whether consultation on the proposal to make reductions should have taken place prior to the decision being made and/or whether further consultation is required from hereon" she adds.
It appears that Salford Council is just plucking cuts figures out of the air, passing them at full Council and then trying to implement them, without any compassion around the affect of those cuts on vulnerable children and their families.
The legal advisor quotes from the Council that "providers have been asked to consult with families about the impact of these changes [i.e. the apportioned reduction in their budget]"; that "A consultation event with parents also took place on 4th February 2015, explaining the reasons for the reduction in expenditure"; and that "Additional consultation has been undertaken with Short Break Care providers, and parents/carers and children who use this programme in order to identify and mitigate against any potential impacts due to the reduction in the programme budget."...
Like the legal advisor writes, this does not constitute "consultation on the proposal to reduce expenditure itself" – and could lead Salford Council back to the courts, where it had to fight parents of disabled adults over its cuts to transport.
The advice states this will depend on... "Whether there has been a promise of consultation"... "Whether there is past practice of consulting in these or similar circumstances"... "The severity of the impact on parents and providers (the bigger the impact the more likely an implied duty to consult arises...)" and "Whether or not there has been a reduction in services when parents or providers have a legitimate expectation that those services will continue."
The legal advisor ends by warning "The greater the risk of challenge from parents or providers the greater the need to ensure that the council acts fairly and makes (or has made) sound decisions in accordance with public law principles (fairness, reasonableness etc)."
Whether Salford Council remains within the law or not, one thing is for sure – it's disabled and vulnerable children in the city suffering yet again...
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