COUNCIL DECISION COULD PUT VULNERABLE CHILDREN AT RISK

CONCERNS have been raised over a potential exodus of social services staff in Derby after a council decision to cut their earnings.

Derby City Council is already coping with a shortage of staff to care for vulnerable children and adults, but that situation could worsen after councillors voted to stop paying employees an allowance for their travel between clients.

A motion calling for the allowance to be scrapped was proposed by Liberal Democrat councillors and supported by their Conservative colleagues, despite unanimous opposition to the cut from Labour.

To the Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors who voted for this cut, it's about saving money. The reality is that it is about protecting children and vulnerable adults.

I’m now worried that defenceless children will be put at greater risk because Derby simply won't have the social workers. After everything that happened with the Baby P case we're told councils have learned lessons, but Derby appears to be bucking that trend.

The staff affected are not local government fat cats either, many of them are low paid workers doing crucial jobs.

Those jobs have just been made even harder. There is a shortage of people to fill these posts nationwide, so who could blame social workers in Derby if they choose to take up jobs in neighbouring areas now?

It's a desperate situation that was so avoidable. The one crumb of comfort Labour can offer to those affected is a pledge to reintroduce the allowance if we take back control of the council in May.

The council's decision to make the budget cut comes after it spent thousands doing up the offices of Liberal Democrat cabinet members and the council's chief executive, despite imminent plans to gut the Council House as part of a refurbishment programme.