CONTENTION over the future of Somerset’s learning disability services continues to grow as a union calls for the start of a new contract to be delayed.

Somerset County Council decided to award the contract for the learning disability services to Dimensions Ltd last year, with the new deal set to start on April 1.

Dimensions has taken on the contract through a social enterprise charity it has set up, called Discovery.

Unison, the public service union, started a petition calling for the handover to be delayed in order for a ‘meaningful consultation’ over possible changes to the service to take place and collected 800 signatures from staff, service users and family members.

The petition was handed to Somerset County Council at a meeting on Wednesday, February 15. The petition encouraged the council to delay the contract in oder for “meaningful consultation” to take place. Before the meeting, staff members gathered outside Shire Hall in Taunton to object the changes for fears it would affect the service users’ “quality of life”.

Tom Kennedy-Hughes, Unison organiser, said: “The handover has been built on faulty assumptions and a misleading picture. We were told there are no savings targets associated with this decision. The reality is a race to the bottom that’s bad for disabled people, staff and carers.

“Dimensions has never dealt with a contract this size. It could lead to the more experienced people dropping out.

“Somerset County Council promised the continuity of staff with a quality service. We’d like to halt the start of the contract to begin meaningful consultation.”

RELATED: Click here for more on the learning disabilities contract

Dimensions, the company behind Discovery, cannot start the consultation until the contract has begun, but says it has been meeting with staff and service users to discuss their thoughts and feelings in the run up to the contract starting.

Luke Joy-Smith, managing director of Dimensions, said: “Consultation will start after the contract starts in April.

“We can’t consult with a workforce that isn’t our workforce.

“We envisage needing to make changes, like to the terms and conditions, restructuring and the day services. We need to get the service working in a sufficient and sustainable way.”

The company has been working with Unison on a national level, but will continue to work with the unions on a regional level, as well as representing staff members that are not within a union.

It has confirmed that this is the biggest contract it has been awarded, but the Social Enterprise will work will a ‘robust’ company in the background.

Mr Joy-Smith added: “We are only as good as our staff think we are reputation-wise.

“It creates anxiety that come April 1, everything will change, but that is not our approach. We want people to understand why we need to make the changes.

“There is a lot of talent and knowledge, staff are trained and experienced, we want to protect that.

“Any change gives a level of uncertainty. The more people that are part of it the better. People have their own ideas and the consultation will bring up other ideas.

“This is a significant piece of work for Dimensions, we want to make a positive difference to the 900 people using the service.”

William Wallace, cabinet member for adult social care for Somerset County Council, said: “The decision to move to Social Enterprise was done for a very specific reason – it will be better in the long run for our service users.

“The result will be a better service and one that is sustainable in the long-term as we manage the reduced funding that all local authorities have to live with. We want better and we believe this contract will deliver better outcomes for our service users.

“The Somerset Social Enterprise is committed to meeting the future needs of people with learning disabilities across Somerset.

"In doing so, it will draw upon its reputation for innovation in the sector to further develop support, focusing on enabling customers to contribute to their communities as active citizens and lead fulfilling lives.

“We have gone to great lengths to engage with service users, parent/carers, staff and unions and shared information as and when we have it.

"This will continue with ongoing conversations before any formal consultation around terms and conditions and a review of day services which, over the next year, will involve customers, their parent/carers and staff in helping design the support they want to see.”