Letter to a MP - former staff at Orchard Lodge Children's Home

(This is a copy of a letter being sent by former employees made redundant by Glen Care to their local MPs. I hope any public authority or organisation that is thinking of dealing with Glen Care will take note. Some names have been changed for obvious reasons).

"On Friday 31st July 2009, Orchard Lodge, the only Secure Children’s Home in London was closed down by its owners Glen Care.

Orchard Lodge Resource Centre was previously run and managed by Southwark Council, however in 2005 the Council sold Orchard Lodge to Glen Care, a privately owned company specialising in adult mental health services. Existing staff jobs were protected under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006.

We (staff) were led to believe that Glen Care was a highly respected company with a great deal of expertise within the care sector. Unfortunately, we have found that this does not seem to be the case. As time elapsed, they showed little or no insight into the legalisation and regulations governing the running of a Secure Children Home.

This raises serious questions about Southwark Council’s intention and duty of care to the children and employees of Orchard Lodge; as well as concerns about the decision making process and selection criteria used in awarding the sale to Glen Care.

My name is ***** and I am a former employee of Orchard Lodge with over ***** yrs experience.

I wish to bring to your attention the disgraceful and callous manner in which I and my former colleagues had been treated by Glen Care.

Within the first few months of the takeover, the workforce was drastically cut, with further losses occurring within the next year and half so that the Centre was reduced , from140 to 70 staff, with the loss of some of our most experienced staff. The depletion of the Mental Health Team in particular was extremely worrying as this greatly affected the quality and service we were able to offer to some of the country’s most vulnerable young people within our care.

Glen Care made no effort to get to know the workforce and communicated through critical and threatening memos and instructions via Orchard Lodge Management. Staff training and development was minimal and as such staff morale was greatly affected.

On 26th March 2009, Orchard Lodge was made aware that the Youth Justice Board refused to award a new 3 year 18 bed contract, as part of their tendering process. Glen Care is currently in the process of appealing this decision, which is being heard at the Royal Courts of Justice. The existing contract expired on 30th June 2009 and consequently Glen Care Group claimed that they could no longer afford to keep Orchard Lodge open without income from the Youth Justice Board.

The staff were told to work on as part time basis and paid weekly as opposed to monthly in direct breach of our contracts. Despite the knowledge of closure, Glen Care made no attempt to provide the staff with assistance and guidance on dealing with unemployment.

On 31st July 2009 at approximately 3.00pm the Centre Manager received a phone call from Glen Care Group instructing him to close down the Centre by 5.00pm, with all staff off the premises by that time.

In protest, staff refused to leave the Centre and staged a peaceful demonstration until they received a written confirmation of the termination of their employment. A Glen Care Director arrived on the Centre at approximately 10.00pm and handed out formal letters of redundancy to the staff, highlighting insolvency as the reason for the closure. The proposed redundancy package that many of us had been promised was not going to be paid This has caused great distress and anxiety to us all, as many of us had worked between 10 to 20 years. To date, Glen Care has not started insolvency proceedings and do not appear to be in a hurry to do so. As such, my colleagues and I are unable to claim statutory redundancy. The action of Glen Care Group and Mr Phillips in particular is causing extreme hardship to many of us.

As my local Member of Parliament, I would like to seize this opportunity to request that you seriously consider the issues highlighted in this letter and possibly raise it in the House. If there is anything you could do to assist or any advice you could offer, I would be immensely thankful. Unison is currently representing staff on this matter.

Yours Sincerely