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Redundancies Feared in the South West Care Sector

10/29/2015

A major company in the South West and which operates a care home in Plymouth, as well as live-in care across Southern England has announced that redundancies are inevitable. Restructuring will go ahead in an attempt to deal with the precarious financial position it finds itself in.

There are fears that Sunshine Care Ltd is one of many companies in the care sector facing problems due to governments and council funding cuts.

Sunshine Care has stated that it will undertake a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) with the backing of Lameys business recovery.

The CVA indicates the dire states of Sunshine Care’s finances as when a limited company is insolvent, it can use a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) to pay creditors over a fixed period. If creditors agree, the limited company can continue trading.

However, the good news is that Lameys has categorically denied that home and live-in care services will be affected as the business will continue to trade.

The contracts with Plymouth and Bristol councils will be annulled, and the provider will fight to stay in business and to protect as many of the 200 jobs as possible within the company.

A spokesman for Lameys said it is hoped other firms will take over these council contracts in order to avoid job losses and negotiations have already started with other providers that are interested in taking on the work.

According to Lameys, those most likely to be affected by the cuts will be administration staff at the head office in Plymouth. Thirty administration staff have already been notified of the risk to the jobs.

However, the hope is that the companies which gain the Sunshine Care contracts will keep the existing staff.

The Lameys spokesman said that: “(Lameys) will be providing assistance with regards to their redundancy claims, but again it is hoped that many of these can find alternative employment with other service providers.”

He continued: "The directors' regret having to make these changes and any job losses that may occur, but their overriding concern is to maintain the on-going high quality care for their clients and those in the community."

Care workers at the Plymouth office have spoke of their devastation at the news, saying that Christmas is looking like a bleak prospect this year:

“We don’t know when we’ll see this money and that is a big problem because some of us have mortgages and bills to pay, as well as children to support.

“Christmas is cancelled as far as I’m concerned,” she added.

The staff are disgusted that they have been asked to carry on working despite being told they won’t be paid at the end of the month, and claim they are still owed two months salary.

Another worker said: “It was a meeting to say, ‘You aren’t getting paid, you’re being made redundant – but please continue to go to work.’”

“They know we’ll feel bad for the clients because they rely on us and we have a close relationship with them. We care about them.”

The Lameys spokesman seemed to understand the gravity of the situation, but asked for understanding, saying: “What we are trying to do is ensure continuity of services for the clients that the company had.

“That is our overriding concern and we are working with Plymouth City Council (PCC) in that respect.

“That is why we are advising the staff, if they can, to work on and to work with us. Doing so will help in providing a more seamless transition for the companies taking over the council contracts.”

Written By:

Daniel James
www.danieljamesbio.com
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