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Protection is not being withdrawn from the vulnerable
• CAMDEN Council wishes to refute the claims made by the Unison representative Mandy Berger (A direct threat to caretaking service, Letters December 11) and in particular the suggestion that protection is being withdrawn from vulnerable children and adults.
The letter is inaccurate, misleading and misrepresents the council’s proposals for the caretaking service.
The council is making changes to improve our important caretaking service to make better use of our skilled and helpful caretakers.
By shifting the balance of their duties away from external estate cleaning, the proposed changes will actually allow caretakers to have a greater focus on helping and protecting the people who live on their estates.
They will be able to focus more on services central to their role such as health and safety, internal cleaning and supporting vulnerable residents. A pilot scheme is currently being conducted in three wards: Kilburn, West Hampstead and Swiss Cottage to test the performance of our street cleanser Veolia in cleaning the external areas of estates. Elsewhere in the borough, the council is planning to replace a very small number of non-resident caretakers (probably about 10) with estate cleaners.
This is a small proportion out of the 191 caretakers who currently provide a service to approximately 24,000 households.
The letter incorrectly states that “it is an unfair two-tier system that encourages inequality in pay for the same job”.
The caretaker job is different from the long-established estate cleaning one, which is reflected in their respective job descriptions.
The council takes child protection and looking after vulnerable people very seriously. The enhanced caretaker role will allow caretakers to spend more time looking out for vulnerable residents living in council housing. However, at the end of the day, all of us need to be looking out for the welfare of Camden’s children.
If any members of staff or residents have any concerns about a child’s welfare we encourage them to raise those concerns with the council immediately.
CLLR JAMES KING,
Executive Member for Community Safety and Housing Services
Cllr Janet Grauberg,
Executive Member for Children and Young People
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