Brierley Hill children's home closing putting jobs at risk

Parkes Street Children's Home will shut following a review, in a move which will save Dudley Council £670,000 a year.

Police had been called to the home on a number of occasions to deal with trouble between youngsters, while the size and location of the building was said to be unsuitable for children's needs.

The council said calls to police to deal with incidents at the home had reached an 'unacceptable level'.

The home was closed temporarily in April and bosses at Dudley Council have now decided it should shut for good – putting dozens of jobs in doubt.

Chiefs said discussions would take place with trade unions and staff regarding the closure.

The six-bed centre receives many emergency admissions and was only designed to be a short-term assessment facility.

Children's services boss Councillor Ian Cooper said Parkes Street had been below capacity for some time.

He said: "In order to deliver the best care and support we can to our vulnerable young people we are reviewing all of our children's homes and Parkes Street was one of the first homes we looked at.

"It is an older building and one of our smaller short-stay assessment centres, for children aged 12 to 17, which has not been at full occupancy for some time. In order to make the best use of resources and ensure the necessary support for these vulnerable young people we temporarily closed this under occupied home in April while we reviewed its future.

"The home has been empty during this review period, with staff temporarily redeployed and alternative suitable settings found for our young people, whose wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do.

"No decision has been made as to the effect on the 17 staff employed at the home as we are currently consulting with them and exploring options such as redeployment, redundancy bumping, retirement and voluntary redundancy."

Dudley's UKIP group leader Councillor Paul Brothwood called for the decision to assessed before the home was closed for good.

He said: "I think this decision will need to go to the overview and scrutiny committee."