DOZENS of carers who look after some of the most vulnerable people in the district are to be made redundant. Home helps in Lancaster and Morecambe claim the essential service has effectively been 'privatised' in a bid to save money. And, although Lancashire County Council is contracting out the care work to private firms, they have questioned bosses claims that there will be no reduction in service. With more than 300 home helps being laid off across the county, several contacted the Citizen to voice their concerns.

"We've been told that it's cheaper to employ private agencies and been offered redundancy," said one local home help, who asked for anonymity to protect her redundancy payments.

"But private firms operate to make money whereas we ran a public service. We knew it was coming but everyone is very downhearted. Most of us have built up special relationships with the elderly folk we look after - you become part of the family. They get very attached and, if there's a change to their routine, they can get very stressed or upset. It seems that most of our social services are being handed over to private firms who, at the end of the day, are operating to make a profit. How can services not be affected?"

The county council's home helps lost out on the latest contract by failing to meet new flexibility measures, claimed Social Services Chairman County Councillor, Doreen Pollitt.

"There will be no loss of service," she said. "In a sense, it is a shift from public to private but the service has been given to a wider number of agencies which are on a voluntary register. Our clients will get new home helps but there will be no reduction in the level of service they receive."

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