Halt the tendering of care and support services for vulnerable people

The City of Edinburgh Council is currently in the process of tendering care and support services for the most vulnerable people in Edinburgh. Following a public meeting at the City Chambers last week, the process has been suspended for a 2 week period to enable the City Councillors to re-examine the details.

Should the proposed tender go ahead, approximately 740 vulnerable people will be forced to transfer their service providers - with only 30 remaining with current providers. The majority of these services in Edinburgh are currently provided by the voluntary sector and many service users have been with their current providers for a number of years.

Should award of contracts go ahead in the proposed form, only 2 voluntary sector agencies retain their contracts with the remaining hours being transferred to private companies. At least 1 of the proposed contract providers have lesser gradings by the Care Commission than a number of those providers from whom the contracts will be withdrawn.

Vulnerable people deserve a choice in their service provision and in continuing with the current tendering process this choice will be significantly reduced.