A NEW structure for Dorset County Council’s delivery of adult care services could save the authority nearly £7million.

The council is proposing to transfer its adult provider services to a Local Authority Trading Company (LATC).

Director for adult and community services Catherine Driscoll explained to a meeting of the adult and community services overview committee that the move would enable the authority to carry on delivering its high quality care to those it already caters for while also charging for other services, which it is currently unable to do.

She was keen to point out that the estimated 1,200 staff currently employed by the council would still be employed with exactly the same terms and conditions if they were to be transferred to the LATC and no jobs would be lost.

Mrs Driscoll said: “Our staff are the jewel in the crown of our provider services.

“They are the reason that our services are so valued and deliver such good care to people.

“We are proposing an LATC that has a positive future for all staff.”

She added that service users will not be affected by the change in organisation.

Mrs Driscoll said: “The challenge for us it to make sure in this changing and challenging financial context that we are able to spell out a future for those service users that is sustainable.

“For them the change of organisation will not make any difference.”

Adult provider services include residential, nursing, respite, day care, reablement and catering services and currently cost the council around £25million a year.

Mrs Driscoll said that the formation of the LATC – which will be 100 per cent council owned but be run by its own board – would enable the council to open up to new markets, including people who received direct payments to fund their care and currently buy services from the private sector.

The business case presented to the committee stated that, using ‘prudent’ income estimates, the council would expect to save £6.8million over a five-year period.

Committee members did raise some concerns surrounding areas such as the transfer of staff and the governance structure of the LATC but most members recognised that the proposed system was the best realistic proposal for the future of the service.

Cllr Robin Cook said: “The present system does stifle invention and innovation and by doing what we are proposing here we are going to encourage that.”

Cllr Fred Drane added: “I feel very enthusiastic with this formation of the LATC.”

After the committee agreed to support the LATC in principle, the recommendation will now go before the council’s cabinet next month.