20 workers at sheltered homes axed

Twenty workers at sheltered bungalows in Wolverhampton being axed as part of multi-million pound council cost-cutting scheme have been told they will be redundant by the end of this month.

Sweetman Street bungalows in Whitmore Reans, which provide round-the-clock care for people with learning disabilities, are due to close on March 31.

Residents have already started moving out, with council bosses pledging if the remaining five have not been found suitable homes before the redundancy date, some workers would carry on to care for them.

Wolverhampton City Council announced last year it would close the bungalows as part of a £40 million savings programme.

Wolverhampton City Council spokesman Gurdip Thandi said: "Letters have been sent out to the 20 members of staff at Sweetman Street giving them appropriate notice of redundancy on March 31."

The council today said that the closure was part of a wider "modernisation" of services for people with disabilities in Wolverhampton, which would encourage more people to live in their own homes.

But campaigners who fought to keep it open said they were gutted.

Former worker Linden Barrington said: "We collected more than 2,000 signatures but the council categorically failed to take our views on board. We are gutted."