Eastbourne's Linden Court Day Centre Service Avoids Closure

An Eastbourne day centre will avoid closure, after county council leaders agreed to pursue alternative proposals.

On Tuesday (July 15), East Sussex County Council’s cabinet agreed proposals connected with Linden Court — an Eastbourne-based day service for adults with learning disabilities.

The service had been marked for closure as a result of a decision taken in February, but the proposal was brought back over concerns it could result in some clients moving into full time residential care.

In a report considered by cabinet, officers noted how the average cost of residential care for a high needs individual would come to around £75,000 per year.

This meant the cost of just three people moving into residential care as a result of the proposals could reduce the £327,000 saving by around £225,000, officers said.

In light of this, officers had recommended an alternative approach —  to keep the service running, but with a reduced capacity.

Speaking during the meeting, Mark Stainton, the council’s director of adult social care and health, said:

“[Closing the service] may result in some individuals requiring premature admissions to long-term residential care, which in turn would severely compromise the estimated level of savings.”

He added:

“The recommended option … proposes the retention of a reduced service at Linden Court capped at 25 adults per day, which aligns with the current actual attendance.

“This would deliver slightly less than half of the originally planned savings, the balance of which would have to be found from elsewhere within the department, but would address family/carer concerns.”

Councillors heard how this approach is not expected to affect current service users — beyond some “relatively minor” changes to session times —- as Linden Court is not currently running at its full capacity.

In supporting this recommendation, Cllr Carl Maynard, Conservative cabinet member for adult social care, said:

“Can I start by thanking those parents and carers and indeed others who have written in since the matter was previously considered by cabinet.

"Those emails have been very useful and I thank everybody for making that contribution.

“I also think it is an opportunity of course to recognise the hugely challenging role unpaid carers have.

"It is almost a 24/7 role and I think it is really, really important that we all recognise the role unpaid carers have and the huge significance of that role as well.”

He added:

“This option would deliver estimated savings of just under 50 per cent of the planned savings, leaving a recurring shortfall of approximately £182,000 per annum, which would need to be managed within the adult social care and health annual revenue budget allocation.”

While initially agreed by cabinet members in February, the decision to close Linden Court was “called in” by the council’s People Scrutiny Committee in March. At the time, members of the scrutiny committee had argued cabinet councillors had not fully considered what impact the closure would have on districts and borough councils.

A further debate took place in May and saw full council refer the decision back to cabinet, although on different grounds to those suggested by the scrutiny committee.

These alternative grounds had been put forward in an amendment tabled by Liberal Democrat group leader David Tutt, who highlighted the work of a campaign group made up of relatives and carers of Linden Court clients.

At the time, Cllr Tutt said evidence from the campaign group suggested the “true costs” associated with closing Linden Court may be greater than the council had first thought.

In light of this, full council resolved to refer the decision back to cabinet members alongside work “to assess the cost implications” raised by campaigners.

This reassessment, which involved further meetings with Linden Court families, resulted in the alternative proposal from officers.

Speaking on Tuesday, Cllr Tutt said:

“I would like to start by thanking the families for all of the work they’ve done to identify the potential cost of closure, which I believe would have exceeded the original savings that were intended to be made.

“They put a tremendous amount of time and effort into collecting that information and presenting it to council.”

He added:

“Quite frankly, chair, the families should never have been placed in a position where they needed to do that work.

"The proposal has caused distress and anxiety to the families and staff at Linden Court for virtually a year now.”

Green Party councillor Anne Cross was among councillors who shared a similar view. She said:

“Right at the beginning there was a real confidence; ‘we have to meet our legal responsibilities around budget and this is going to be one of the cuts that we are going to make’.

“What we didn’t do was engage with the families right back at the beginning. What we didn’t do is assess the care act needs for the people who are so dependent on Linden Court.

“It was only after the persistence of the families and carers that these were re-looked at and we’ve come to [the view] ‘oh yeah, actually this is not going to save us the money we originally thought about’.”

After further discussion, cabinet members agreed to the alternative proposal recommended by officers.

This approach is expected to reduce costs of running Linden Court and deliver just under half of the £327,000 saving originally proposed.

Officers note how this will still result in a “recurring shortfall of approximately £182,000 per annum”, which the council would need to find some way to fund in order to balance its budget.