Day centre for adults with special needs in Northamptonshire causes confusion by stopping care for selected clients

A day centre that cares for adults with special needs has cancelled a number of clients’ contracts in a move described by families as completely ‘out of the blue’.

Brixworth Farm Nursery, in Holcot Road, which is set on a plot of countryside and has allotments and an animal husbandry unit, can cater for up to 30 adults at any one time.

Since reopening following its lockdown closure and the introduction of social distancing measures, centre bosses say they can no longer cater for the same number of clients at any one time so the company has decided to axe a number of contracts completely.

The decision to tell at least nine clients that they no longer have a place, has left parents and vulnerable adults heartbroken.

Clients were told via an email that has been described as ‘generic’ and ‘impersonal’ that the centre had to make ‘difficult decisions’ about ‘staffing and space’, following Government guidelines.

Gillian McCormick, whose son has been attending the centre for 11 years, said: “We were in disbelief. It was just a complete shock and out of the blue.

“Aaron is devastated and he thinks he has done something wrong.

“They did send out an email asking if Aaron would be happy to go back and I replied saying my son would be nervous but wanted to go back.

“Then the next email told us that the contract had been cancelled.

“I would have thought they could have opened in bubbles and that sort of thing and that they could have worked round it.

“As a group we got together and we can’t see any common denominator as to whose contracts have been cancelled.

“It’s disgusting how we have been treated.”

Although the only services available to clients during lockdown were some outside, clients were still asked to pay full price to ‘pay staff’ and ‘keep their place’.

However, one parent told the Chronicle & Echo that a number of members of staff were still made redundant.

Karen Dawson, whose son Liam White has also been going to the centre for more than a decade, added: “We did not know anything about it and none of us expected it at all.

“We’re devastated. It is Liam’s absolute life and he even met his fiance there.

“The manager phoned at the beginning of lockdown to say they would still be taking full payment to keep staff on full pay, but then members of staff were made redundant so we felt like they had been taking the money under false pretenses.

“And we’d been paying full money to keep Liam’s place and now we’ve lost that.

“We understand that these are unprecedented times, but we expected to be back even if it wasn’t until next year, so for them to just blow him out and dump him is shocking.

“I would like to know how they chose who lost their contracts and I think they should refund the money from the last five months.

“From just the nine people we know of who have lost their contracts, they have made £60,000 from them over the last few months.

"That's money that they have no right to and money we're having to fight for.

“I also do not think social distancing is the reason they have cut contracts, I think there is more to it, as the place is huge and there is plenty of room for them all."

In response to the payment claims, the company director said it was ‘Government directive’ to take the full payments.

Rachael Warwick said: “Throughout lockdown our service has been operating to support our clients albeit in a different way to normal.

“Although the day centre has not been accessible we have opened up the grounds and created new allotments for them and their families to access and tend, made the grounds available for walks and picnics, held outdoor exercise sessions, provided zoom calls, set up a private Facebook group and sent out gifts/projects.

“We have kept in constant touch with our families and updated them and consulted with them throughout lockdown and to date.

“The Government directive at the start of the lockdown was for direct payments to continue for the sustainability of all day services.

“Day services and care providers have been paid throughout.

However, from the parents who spoke to the Chronicle & Echo, the main two questions they want answered do not relate to the money, instead they are:

- How were the clients who lost their contracts chosen?

- Why did the centre have to cut contracts at all and why could they not make adaptations to keep all clients on in some capacity?

The company released a lengthy statement about the current situation however, when asked again by the Chronicle & Echo about the two main concerns parents have, they declined to comment further.

Ms Warwick’s statement continues: “It is with huge sadness and regret that due to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic we have had to make some very tough decisions in order to continue with the service we provide for people over 18 years of age with learning difficulties.

“This pandemic is unprecedented in our lifetime and like most businesses presents us with huge challenges.

“We find we simply have no choice but to change our model of service delivery due to Government guidelines.

“The safety of our clients is of paramount importance to us and we have an absolute duty to provide a safe operating environment for them all.

“This ultimately means that we are sadly no longer in a position to support all of our clients.

“We simply have no alternative but to reduce the numbers we can accommodate.

“Almost weekly we are having to deal with more and more restrictions imposed upon us by government and guidelines which makes the situation ever changing and ever more complicated.

“We have a huge responsibility to re-open our service as safely as we can with a risk assessed approach and in a Covid-secure manner.

“Contact details of the independent consultant we retained to provide support for our clients through this difficult time were given to the families during the pandemic and when notified we could no longer support them.

“It’s all an incredibly sad situation and we totally understand that our clients who are no longer able to attend our service are deeply upset and we are so sorry that we can no longer support them.

“However, should the Covid-19 situation and Government guidelines change, we would of course be more than happy to reassess to ensure we can meet their needs.”