Age Concern Havering manages care services for neighbouring borough

AGE Concern Havering has helped pull back neighbouring Age Concern Barking & Dagenham from the brink of extinction, agreeing to run its home care services.

Our borough will now run some of Barking & Dagenham’s services for the elderly, after the neighbouring Age Concern went into administration with a reported �1.5mill pension deficit earlier this year.

Home care services include personal bathing, shopping, house cleaning and gardening for the elderly.

Havering’s interim chief executive, Sheila Lewis, has insisted the move will not be a strain on existing services, adding that the 23 staff who ran Barking & Dagenham will continue to do so.

However, due to a legal agreement, she would not reveal how much the extra staff or services would cost Havering.

Sheila told the Recorder: “All those people who used home care services in Barking & Dagenham we will look after.

“We’ve taken over the same staff. It will be managed by us but run as it was before.

“I’m absolutely confident it will not impact on our services – otherwise we wouldn’t do it.”

Age Concern Barking & Dagenham went into administration in April after council chiefs decided to pull the plug on contracts.

Administrators Re10 said the charity’s financial problems were exacerbated by a fall-off in funding from Barking & Dagenham Council.