Council managed Clarence Care & Support service capacity and staff moving over to the Wesley Mission

The federal government's National Disability Insurance Scheme 
(NDIS) continues to limit choice for the frail aged, chonically ill or those with disabilities, as yet another another local service agency changes hands.

Clarence Care + Support - accredited for aged care service provision and a registered NDIS service provider - which has been helping people in their homes in the Clarence Valley since the early 1990s is being transferred from Clarence Valley Council management to that of the religious charity, Wesley Mission.

The Daily Examiner, 30 May 2020:

Mr Linsday said the arrival of NDIS made it difficult for CCS to operate under council management. 

“It was also the decline in profit margins for all of the aged care sector, competitor threats including the private sector and the amount of government change that has occurred and those planned to occur,” he said.  
“Council has observed that there has been a growing ­consolidation of organisations since 2014 and with the NDIS and the aged care sector ­becoming more competitive council’s model of delivery was not financially sustainable.” 

The council voted to ­transform the service from a council entity to an outside-council not-for-profit organisation. 

Earlier this month Wesley Mission became the successful tender for CCS. 

However, Mr Lindsay stressed that this change-­over was not a sale of CCS but a transfer of the community care services offered by the service. 

“A key requirement for council in transferring the services to a not-for-profit organisation was that the services provided by CCS would be continued to be provided in the Clarence Valley with as many of the existing CCS staff transferring to the new organisation as possible,” he said.

Petitioning Premier O'Farrell: Don't cut community organisations

Twenty-six vital community organisations, including the Welfare Rights Centre, Lifeline (Sydney and Sutherland), Redfern Legal Centre's financial counselling service and the Gay and Lesbian Counselling Service and Twenty10, are at risk of having their funding cut by the NSW Government.

Megan Clement-Couzner of Woolloomooloo writes:

I'm a young woman who lives in Sydney. I know the value of community organisations. I recently had a young queer friend from Western Sydney approach me, asking for help to deal with issues of homophobia and severe depression. I knew she was at risk of self harm. Having community services in NSW meant I could help her access free counseling and a support group. She would never have been able to afford these services otherwise. Without organisations like the Gay and Lesbian Counselling Service, I wouldn't have known how to help her.

Megan is calling on concerned citizens to sign the petition and have Premier O'Farrell not cut funding of community organisations.

Sign the petition here.

Premier O'Farrell is on Twitter here and Minister Pru Goward is here. Use the hashtag #BOFcutswebleed to tweet about this petition!