Parents and carers write to Queen over Birmingham skills centre closure threat

Outcry over city council funding threat to Forward 4 Work in Inkerman Street, Nechells

 

Karen Sawtell with her son Andrew Sawtell and Brian Herriott (left), chairman of the group
Karen Sawtell with her son Andrew Sawtell and Brian Herriott (left), chairman of the group

 

Angry parents and carers have written to the Queen in a desperate battle to save a Birmingham skills centre for adults with learning difficulties that faces the council axe.

Staff at Forward 4 Work in Inkerman Street, Nechells , have already been offered voluntary redundancy as the authority continues to slash costs across the city.

The centre, opened by Queen Elizabeth in 1981, provides vital training to help people with conditions including autism and Down syndrome into work.

Families fear the axing of the services as part of a package of Birmingham City Council cuts will mean 50 service users will have nothing worthwhile to do.

They were invited to explanatory meetings with the city’s assistant director for employment Shilpi Akbar on Tuesday.

The authority today claimed it was seeking an external body to provide a ‘different’ service at the centre, saving up to £900,000 a year.

Karen Sawtell, 52, of Kings Heath , whose son Andrew, 26, attends the centre said: “Rather than interacting, socialising and learning new skills, he’ll just sit at home watching telly and playing on his Playstation.”

Andrew, who cannot read and write, trains at the facility’s garden centre, while other service users produce nuts, bolts and screws, or make and sell sandwiches.

Karen said: “The centre has slowly been run down – if an adult has left, they’ve not taken anyone else on.

“Most of the service users have been travel-trained to get to the centre, but if you told them to find somewhere else they wouldn’t have a clue.”

Brian Herriott, chairman of a carers’ support group at the centre, said: “Staff have been offered voluntary redundancy.

“The council tried to say that South Birmingham College would take some trainees on, but that would only be for 12 months, and most trainees have already come from college anyway.

“I wrote to the Queen in March and I did get a reply saying it’s not something that she would normally get involved with. She’s asked [Local Government Secretary] Eric Pickles to investigate and I’m waiting to hear.”

A council spokeswoman said the authority planned to reduce and eventually cease ‘high-cost’ vocational training in favour of “one-to-one person-centred support with clear goals and expectations”.

She promised council investment in support for people with disabilities, and “better new use” of the Nechells site.

“We are undertaking initial work for a community asset transfer to secure an external partner for the provision of additional training and vocational work experience places.”

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/parents-carers-write-queenn-over-3314382