Before Christmas Southwark Council’s social care service were assessed as one of the eight worst in the country. Southwark Labour will be bringing a motion before council assembly on the matter at the next meeting on 27^th January.

In the first annual performance assessment under the new Care Quality Commission (CQC) late last year, Southwark’s social care rating was downgraded from ‘excellent’ to ‘adequate’, which was the lowest rating given to any council in the country.

The Lib Dems’ response to the Commission’s deeply troubling findings has been simply breathtaking. Instead of taking any of the CQC’s criticisms onboard and following their recommendations, the Lib Dem administration has decided to commission its own ‘independent’ inspection, at an estimated cost of £10,000. They are the only council in the country to react in this way.

We can see no way that this new inspection will be interpreted as anything other than an utter whitewash by Southwark residents. Surely, the Lib Dems wouldn’t be satisfied with the new inspection if it delivered the same damning verdict as the CQC’s.

As the national care regulator, the CQC is the best organisation to provide a balanced, neutral and independent assessment of the council’s care service. This is why Labour will be calling on the Lib Dems to accept the CQC’s recommendations and draw up an action plan addressing their concerns.

Come to Southwark Town Hall on 27^th January at 7pm if you are interested in social care for vulnerable adults and older people in Southwark. Your support in the public gallery will send a powerful message to the Executive.

We were going to call on the Lib Dems to accept the shocking findings of the Care Quality Commission report in Southwark’s social care and act on their recommendations.

But the Lib Dems weren’t even willing to discuss the subject. Instead, they filibustered for over an hour on the subject of how they’ve “transformed Southwark” until the meeting ran out of time. As a result social care wasn’t discussed at all.

I think any Southwark resident who knows someone who’s been let down by the council’s social care would be disgusted by such behaviour. I think that they would believe that the transformation that’s taken place in the care service has been a backward step. Seven years ago, the last time the council was inspected, Southwark’s care service were rated as one of the best in the country, today they’re rated as one of the eight worst.

If you’re disgusted by the Lib Dems behaviour at this week’s council meeting then help us do something about it. Help us campaign for a Labour council so we can turn the appalling state of the council’s social care around.