VULNERABLE people in Worcestershire are staging a protest and have launched a petition against a plan to cut care services.
Sarah Webster and Lisa Jarvis have care workers who help them in their daily lives, but as part of the Future Lives Programme they will no longer be able to get the help they need because of cuts by Worcestershire County Council to their housing provider Bromsgrove District Housing Trust.
But a spokesman from the county council said the plan, which is in the consultation phase, was not targetting care workers as part of proposals to slash investment in supporting people from £15 million to £6.5 million, although it does plan to cut funding to organisations that may provide these services.
Miss Webster, who suffers with autism, said: “I was in a relationship for 15 years - he paid the bills and sorted out our daily lives and when we split that’s when I had a breakdown and my care worker came in and sorted everything out for me. But now that’s being taken away, my life is going to come crashing down again.”
Miss Jarvis, who has mental health problems, said as part of the help they receive the care workers organise bills, help with debt, take them shopping, to school meetings and doctors, and are there in a social and professional capacity to keep them in society. They are our guardian angels.
Mark Robertson, managing director of the housing trust, said that without funding to run support services they will have to charge users.
He said: “If we do nothing, these services will cease in three months. We are hugely uncomfortable withdrawing these services from our customers, who either need them now, or in the future.”
The women have launched an online petition - ipetitions.com/petition/save-our-support - and are holding a protest outside County Hall, from 10am on Tuesday the last day of consultation.
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