Home helps for more than 600 Angus residents are to be axed within six months in a £755,000 cost-cutting move.
The money-saving step has been in the pipeline as part of council efforts to shave millions of pounds from its annual budget but social work councillors have been told the home support service will cease at the end of October.
The service had not been due to end until April next year but officials have accelerated the date because shrinkage of the set-up would lead to it becoming “unsustainable”.
Almost 45 full-time posts are involved.
Unions have been advised of the closure but the exact fate of staff is not known.
The council is also examining the possibility of the home help service being provided as a ‘social enterprise’.
Social work committee member David May said he was “very unhappy” about the potential wider impact of the move on the area’s elderly.
Mr May said he was concerned frail pensioners would be hit hard by the removal of the regular contact home helps provide.
The new timetable for the cessation of the service has been set out in a report from strategic director (people) Margo Williamson, confirming service users have been told of the closure plan and discussions with unions have taken place.
The report states: “The home support service provides a domestic cleaning service to approximately 630 people within Angus with 43.8 FTE staff. The service has reduced over time from a budget of £951,000 in 2007-08 to £605,000 today.
“A review of the 31 other Scottish local authorities shows that only five of them provide a home support service similar to Angus Council.”
The move is being made as part of major changes being brought in over the delivery of care for the area’s elderly.
The director adds: “All current service users will receive a Self Directed Support (SDS) assessment and may choose to purchase home support through their SDS delivery package. Discussions are ongoing between Angus Council and partners to explore the feasibility of home support being a social enterprise development following cessation of the council service.
“The bringing forward of the closure date from its original date of April 2016 is necessary because the gradual shrinking of the service will lead to a position before then when its continued delivery becomes untenable and the position for service users and staff unsustainable.”
Mr May said: “I’m very unhappy about this. So many people depend on the support they get from home helps and it is not just about the time that they spend in someone’s house carrying out their duties.
“For many it is perhaps the only face to face contact they will have with someone on a regular basis and it makes such a difference. I also know from some of the home helps that they have concerns about how some of our elderly people will cope once this service is stopped.”