Wolverhampton care homes employing 97 staff are facing the axe

Wolverhampton City Council wants to close Merry Hill House and Nelson Mandela House and have their services picked up by outside providers.

Day-care services at Woden Resource Centre in Wednesfield will also be lost under the plans, which will save the local authority £2.6 million.

At the moment, Merry Hill House in Langley Road, Merry Hill, and Nelson Mandela House in Whitburn Close, Pendeford, have 10 long-term residents but do also accommodate short respite stays. At Nelson Mandela House, 26 beds out of 37 are occupied. It is believed a similar number are occupied at Merry Hill. At capacity, the homes could look after 72 people.

Councillors on the decision-making cabinet will be asked to approve a formal period of consultation on the plans at a meeting on Wednesday.

They will also discuss plans to improve the support on offer to older people and those suffering from dementia in their own homes, including offering extra hours of 'reablement' support. Reablement means helping people improve or relearn the skills required to keep them safe and independent at home.

The council also wants to increase the number of residents using the Telecare technology, such as personal alarms and monitoring equipment, to enable vulnerable people to continue to live at home.

At present, 950 people receive Telecare packages, but the authority wants to recruit 3,000 new users over the next three years – eventually reaching 6,000 people in the city, or around 20 per cent of the local older population

The city's adult services boss, Councillor Elias Mattu, said: "We are committed to helping people maintain their independence for as long as possible, and giving customers choice and control over their services.

"Make no mistake about it, these proposals would mark a big change to the way we do things in Wolverhampton, making use of the latest technology to reduce isolation, and engaging with external providers to maintain high quality reablement services which would in turn reduce demands for more traditional forms of care."

The council controversially closed Underhill House in 2010, resulting in elderly residents including 106-year-old Louisa Watts being moved in freezing temperatures. At the time, the Labour party - now in control - was in opposition and bitterly opposed the move.

The news comes after the council announced its latest round of cuts which will see the Grand Theatre lose its grant. Libraries, children and the elderly will also be hit.

Hundreds of jobs will go as part of five years' worth of austerity measures to save £134m.