Labour administration getting it wrong yet again. Dear Councillors As a trustee of Eye to Eye I feel that this should be shared with fellow Councillors Sent on Behalf of the Chair and Trustees of Eye to Eye Counselling Service. Dear Mr Bradshaw I am sorry that the meeting arranged for 12.30 today was postponed, but we fully appreciate the circumstances under which this happened. Time is running out for us to fully brief you on the impact of the proposed cuts on young peoples counselling in RCT. As you may be aware we have suspended all counselling referrals into the service for young people over the age of 19 years. We reach the most vulnerable in society with this service, but until this matter is fully resolved we cannot promise young people therapeutic interventions that cannot be delivered. We will as part of our ethical commitment continue to provide services to those young people on our waiting list who have been referred or have self referred into our service. Here are the questions and comments that we would have asked and addressed today. It is important that we meet with you as soon as possible to discuss these in person. Why were Councillors not made aware that at any time the proposed cuts to services would involve the removal of counselling to all young people over 19 years within their community. Within the vision for a New National Youth Work Strategy for Wales 2013-2018, youth support services are services that encourage, enable or assist young people to participate effectively and responsibly in the life of their communities. The statutory posts which you intend to cut for the counselling provision, provide young people with the skills and emotional ability to actively participate and contribute to their community and society. This vision supports young people 11 to 25 years. Why within the public consultation was there not a question on the existence or usage of counselling services, enabling clients, community groups and young people to have a say on cuts to this statutory service.? Why was the charity not consulted or advised about any proposals to withdraw a post within the statutory service that has been placed with them for 19 years and works with the most vulnerable in society.? Why after producing clinical measured outcomes, showing year on year improvements to the emotional health of young people accessing therapy in RCT, have the LA decided that this is an appropriate cut to services, when clearly the number of young people asking for help is growing and this service is meeting this direct need.? Why, at any stage during the phase one proposals, was the reduction of counselling to young people over 19 not discussed or mentioned.? Has there been a risk assessment and impact study carried out with regards to the implications of removing this service to the 19 to 25 age group. This removal will have a direct impact on work carried out within whole communities in RCT. This will see the withdrawal of community support during critical incidents involving young people over the age of 19 years and support within local areas to anyone under 25 during these incidents.? Do the officers in the authority understand the restrictions under which the School Counselling Grant can be administered. ? What are the plans for the administration of this fund,as we are aware that discussions have taken place between officers in the Authority and Cabinet members.? Employment of the Coordinator within this grant would prevent the management and administration of other projects to over 19 clients.? Why has EOs name not appeared on any Union List regarding redundancy, and why had she not been informed of the RCT staff consultation meeting with staff. It was also inappropriate for AT to be informed of the removal of her post by DJ and ZL on Friday 24th January with EO present. The removal of these statutory posts will ultimately mean that the Local Authority no longer provides a Universal service to young people in RCT. These services are topped up in other LA areas using Family First Funding, an example of this can be seen in Cardiff, Swansea, Merthyr, Monmouth, Neath Port Talbot where out of school services and post 19 is provided using funding from this grant.? Premises; How will the removal of the two LA funded posts impact on the housing of the Charity at Beddau CEC. Will Eye to Eye now be expected to vacate the premises or will an SLA be provided to ensure the continued use of the Play Therapy room for primary clients and the additional counselling room for the out of school counselling provision, including office space. How the removal of the two LA posts impact on the provision of computer systems and global access now held by all staff, who are using this secure network to contact other departments such as safeguauarding and social services, RCT currently have administrator rights over this system.? As you can see from the above , we have a number of questions that without consultation have remained unanswered. We will as Trustees be forwarding these questions to the Councillors and Cabinet Members of RCT as we are sure that they are questions that will also need to be addressed at that level. Regards Mr David Stone Chair to the Trustees Tel 07803065845
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 10:23:07 +0000
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