Derbyshire campaigners call for update over delayed council plans to sell care home operation

Belper's Ada Belfield care home residents joined the campaign to stop the proposed sale of the home which is subject to Derbyshire County Council changes to care services. Picture courtesy of Belper Together.

Campaigners opposed to the planned sale of a Derbyshire County Council care home operation are pressing the authority for an update after it confirmed three months ago that negotiations were underway with an interested party to take over the running of the facility.

The Reform UK-controlled council’s planned sale of eight of its care homes to a single provider collapsed and led to their closure but the authority confirmed in April that negotiations with an ‘established care provider’ were underway for the commercial lease of a ninth facility – Ada Belfield care home, in Belper.

However, Belper Together campaigners who have fought to prevent the controversial plans to sell and privatise Ada Belfield say they have renewed their efforts in light of what they claim has been a lack of updates on the proposed sale of the care home operation.

Belper Together Chairperson Keith Venables said: “Ada Belfield is an excellent care home. It would make sense to direct appropriate resources to keep it serving the community – why has there been no statement to clarify its future?”

The campaigners claim that there has been ‘no communication, no dialogue with residents, families and staff, no update, no information forthcoming, no respect’ since the council announced in April that negotiations with a care provider were underway for the commercial lease of Ada Belfield care home.

Derbyshire County Council has explained that it aims to transfer the operation of Ada Belfield care home to a private provider as a going concern with the sale of a commercial lease which will allow the authority to still retain ownership of the building.

But Belper Together campaigners have opposed council plans to cease to operate, sell-off or lease its care homes throughout including Ada Belfield with concerns about privatisation, rising costs and worries for the future of residents and staff as well as for Ada Belfield’s library and cafe.

Campaigners have also raised concerns about what they claim are changes to original plans to retain Community Support rehabilitation beds at the facility which they say are now to be relocated elsewhere.

Belper Together claims the Reform-controlled council has shown little enthusiasm for reversing the previous Conservative-led council’s decision to sell the care homes in a bid to save money including residential facilities such as the £11.5 million Ada Belfield Centre, in Belper.

The campaigners also aim to ask questions at a Full Council meeting on July 15th concerning why a 4.9 per cent increase in the authority’s council tax including a 2 per cent rise in the adult social care precept could not have resulted in a reversal of the decision to close and sell the council care homes.

They also intend to ask for an update regarding the proposed outsourcing of the Ada Belfield centre’s hub including its care home, library and cafe and what communications have taken place with residents, families and staff.

Campaigners will also be asking for an explanation why the authority decided to increase its council tax for the 2026-27 financial year amidst claims that it had promised not to do so, but this accusation has been repeatedly dismissed by the council claiming that cutting taxes had only been a national campaign issue relating to key leaders of the Reform Party.

Belper Together will also be seeking answers to claims that there have been delays with the council’s publication of its Draft Statement of Accounts for the financial year ending 2024, and for the financial years ending 2025, and 2026.

The Reform UK council’s planned sale of eight of its Derbyshire care homes to a single provider failed leading to their closure after the authority had adopted a money-saving and care restructure strategy which had originally been put in motion by the former Conservative-controlled authority.

Derbyshire County Council recently confirmed eight of its former care homes have now officially closed as of the first week of June and they are set to be disposed of on the open market while the remaining residents have been moved and a process to dispose of these buildings is underway.

A Reform UK cabinet member also revealed the disposal process for some of these care homes could include reusing the properties for another council service.

The former Conservative-controlled council originally agreed to cease operating the eight care homes as well as Ada Belfield while managing a multi-million pound budget deficit and arguing a need to refocus adult care services by supporting more dementia patients and helping more people to stay at home due to what it claimed was a decline in demand for residential care, and the new Reform council took up the strategy and following the collapsed sale of eight of its care homes in December and their subsequent closure the authority was at least able to confirm in April that Ada Belfield was subject to negotiations with a care provider to take over the running of this facility.

The council confirmed in April that it has offered a commercial lease for the whole of the Ada Belfield site including the library which will be unaffected by any new leasing arrangements for the care home and the library will continue to be run by the council.

Cabinet member for Adult Care, Cllr Joss Barnes, previously stated the council was working through the details with the interested company and as the home was due to be transferred as a going concern, there were not expected to be any changes to the day-to-day care for residents.

He added the council was confident that the staff who support the residents ‘will move with them’ under the new provider so that their care and relationships remain consistent.

The eight care homes the former Conservative council agreed in November 2024 to stop operating and to sell included: Briar Close, at Borrowash; Castle Court, at Swadlincote; The Grange, at Eckington; Lacemaker Court, at Long Eaton; The Leys, at Ashbourne; New Bassett House, at Shirebrook; Rowthorne, at Swanwick; And Thomas Colledge House, at Bolsover.

UNISON Derbyshire Branch Secretary Martin Porter was pleased to learn Ada Belfield would survive but he stressed the union’s preference was always to avoid the privatisation of public services and he described Ada Belfield’s position was ‘cold comfort’ for those affected by the eight closed homes.

Di Houlden, of Belper Together, has argued it will be more expensive for the council to maintain residents in a private facility because without public sector provision at an affordable price she claims a private operator will have free rein to raise its fees.

Ms Houlden argued that unlike the council which is statutorily obliged to provide adult social care, the objective of private companies is to make a profit.

She and other campaigners are also concerned for the potential costs for the council in the future in finding places and needing to fund the difference in fees between public and private care and Ms Houlden has also expressed concerns about possible council staff redundancies.

The council stated in April that discussions were ongoing regarding Ada Belfield and at that time it added that it was likely to be several weeks before specific details could be confirmed.

Opposition Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green Party councillors previously joined campaigners and concerned residents in a failed bid to stop the former Conservative council agreeing to sell the original eight care homes.

They argued the decision will have a detrimental effect on some of the most vulnerable older people and the changes do not take into account an increasingly older population and what they believe is an increasing demand for residential care.

Nine Labour MPs also appealed to the former Conservative council administration in 2024 to reconsider its proposals to cease to operate, sell and potentially close the care homes after they claimed this could prove to be ‘devastating’ with ‘serious consequences’.

However, Cllr Barnes has argued the move to sell care homes follows a decline in demand for traditional residential care as people choose to stay in their homes for as long as possible and by the time they need to go into care they need more intensive support, such as nursing care, which the council cannot legally provide.

He has also said supporting older and disabled people is one of the council’s highest priorities and it is absolutely committed to maintaining and developing quality residential and home care in Derbyshire.

Derbyshire County Council is expected to respond to questions from Belper Together campaigners during its Full Council meeting on July 15th.

Cllr Barnes said: “Supporting older and disabled people is one of our highest priorities and we’ve transformed our in-house care services to provide wraparound care for the growing number of people with dementia and their carers.

“We’re currently in discussions with an experienced and established care provider about taking over the operation of Ada Belfield, and work is continuing.

“We understand how important it is to keep our residents, their families and carers – as well as our colleagues – informed, and we will continue to share updates.

“The council has offered a commercial lease for the entire site, which includes both the care home and the library. The library will not be affected by any new leasing arrangements and will continue to be managed by the council.”