Three hundred people – including staff and relatives of service users at Calderstones Trust took part in a demonstration today against planned cuts in services and pay.

The march and rally followed the trust’s decision to close ‘peripheral homes’ and move service users into the community where staff and relatives fear they will not have the necessary support.

Under the closure plans, staff currently working in the peripheral homes are to be redeployed to the low secure unit in Whalley, where their pay will be cut.  Down-banding and cuts in unsocial hours pay could see staff losing as much as £5,000 a year.

At the rally, a relative of a service user said:

“These proposals are a disgrace. My son has brilliant care at Calderstones. We know what the transfer means – less care. We don’t accept it and we haven’t agreed to it. We are fighting it. “

A Hospital Worker rounded up the rally and said:

“I have been working here for 20 years. We will continue to fight for our jobs, our pay and above all the high level of care we give to clients. They deserve the best. This is the second rally. This one better than the last. We continue the fight for care whilst we need to.”