Manor Green School's Respite Unit To Close Due To Funding Withdrawal

A multi-million pound respite care unit has announced it will close its doors indefinitely after opening less than a year ago.










Manor Green Residence, which provides respite care for children with severe learning disabilities, will shut on Friday, July 22.

A letter sent to parents and staff members on Monday from Manor Green School headteacher Ania Hildrey said the unit will close 'as a result of withdrawal of funding for the provision by two of the three local authorities funding the service.'

The letter also states that the school in Elizabeth Hawkes Way, Cox Green, is in talks with the Royal Borough about the 'possibility of a future service provision'.

"But what is clear is that there will be no service provision for the autumn term and highly unlikely for the spring term," she adds.

Staff at the unit, which is the only one of its kind in the borough, have been told there is a 'high risk' of compulsory redundancies and to look for other positions within the school or borough.

The 24-bed respite unit, which is managed by Manor Green School, provides short-term overnight accommodation for children with learning disabilities. It is used to teach pupils how to live independently.

It forms part of the £26 million specialist school which replaced Holyport Manor last September as a result of a 10 year campaign.

An investigation into the standards of care at the unit is still ongoing. The Royal Borough suddenly closed the unit in February following the suspension of three staff members. It was re-opened in March under an interim management team.

David Cameron's Not Fit To Lead The Country

DAVID Cameron claims that three-quarters of those applying for Employment Support Allowance (the successor to Incapacity Benefit) can go to work immediately. He is a liar.

He bases this fake figure on a survey by the Department of Work and Pensions showing that 39 per cent who took a tough new test for ESA were deemed fit for work and moved to Jobseekers’ Allowance. A further 36 per cent gave up before completing the test.

Dodgy Dave, who’s never had a proper job in his life, assumes that all those who failed the test are scrimshankers, and all those who pulled out were trying it on.

In fact, 40 per cent of those who are turned down, successfully appeal against being denied ESA, and an unknown number walk away from a testing ordeal that disability charities say is ­“seriously flawed and not fit for purpose”.

Of course, those who can work, should work. But the ConDems simply want to save money for tax cuts for the better-off, not help those who have ­difficulty helping themselves. Cameron’s abuse of statistics to criminalise them is despicable.

David Cameron Accused Of Second Betrayal Over Care For Disabled Children

Heather Walker said the overnight respite provision for 14-year-old Peter, who has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, is paralysed on one side and cannot speak, has recently been cut.













She is now only able to leave him at a Priors Hill Children's Centre in Macclesfield on Saturdays and for five hours every other Wednesday.

Mrs Walker, 54, said the strain of looking after Peter – whom she adopted 10 years ago - was proving too much and she felt she had no option but to return him to care.

Her plight was highlighted a week after Riven Vincent accused Mr Cameron of reneging on an election promise to continue providing support for her daughter Celyn.

The prime minister, whose disabled son Ivan died in 2009, met Miss Vincent on the campaign trail and assured her the NHS would be safe.