Rhondda Cynon Taf council outsources all long-term home care

Trade unions opposed the proposed home care changes

A council will outsource its remaining long-term home care services to independent providers.

It comes despite opposition from unions and councillors, and a petition against Rhondda Cynon Taf council's plans.

Karen Morgan, Plaid Cymru's leader on the council, said outsourcing was "just another word for privatising".

The council's cabinet said it hopes the decision will make the service sustainable without reducing the level of care provided.

But Ms Morgan said there had been no consultation and that many of the petition's signatories had raised issues about private providers.

Peter Crews, branch secretary for the Unison union in the Cwm Taf area, highlighted experiences with private providers who had collapsed or walked away and added that no officer had come to Unison to talk about making the service more efficient.

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"There is no place for profiteering in care.

"These proposals should never have come in front of you," he told the cabinet meeting on Monday.

Gareth Morgans from GMB, which represents workers, said he was disappointed with the lack of consultation and asked the cabinet to defer the decision and enter into meaningful dialogue with the trade unions and service users.

He said the arrangement did not include pay rises and that staff would not get one until the minimum wage or foundation living wage caught up.

How is care delivered in Rhondda Cynon Taf?

The council's Support@Home service delivers all reablement (relearning how to perform everyday tasks) and intermediate care, but a much smaller proportion of long-term home care - about 10%.

Most long-term care is already being commissioned from independent providers.

Under the proposals, all care packages will be kept while eligible staff employed by Support@Home to provide long-term home care will transfer to the new service provider.

The council said this ensured continuity of support for service users, and job security for staff with the terms and conditions of their current contracts protected, along with membership of the local government pension scheme.

The council's cabinet agreed to continue to deliver all reablement and intermediate care and, from October 2024, to commission all long-term home care from external home care providers, as part of a required re-tender process.

Gareth Caple, cabinet member for health and social care, said: "This revised approach aims to achieve a sustainable model that in no way reduces the availability of the service rather it would enable long term commissioning arrangements to be improved."