KIRKLEES Council has been forced into a U-turn after its chosen adult day care provider withdrew.

The authority faced criticism for choosing the Home Farm Trust, who don’t have a base in Kirklees, over Mencap, who already provided the service at Waverley Hall in Edgerton.

Parents of service users said they were unhappy the council made a decision to axe Mencap without even consulting them when the decision affected some of society’s most vulnerable people.

But HFT has now withdrawn from their bid to provide the service.

Mencap will continue to run the adult day care service, something welcomed by the families of many services users.

But criticism of the council’s handling of the process continues.

The Examiner reported in June that Kirklees Council axed Mencap as the day care provider for people with disabilities in favour of the Home Farm Trust, a new provider to Kirklees and a national charity providing support to people with learning disabilities, their families and carers.

Gledholt’s David Mills-Daniel and wife Jenny were not consulted before the Council transferred responsibility for the care of their son Edmund, 33, who has Down’s Syndrome and severe learning difficulties.

Dr Mills Daniel said the council’s original decision came “out of the blue” and that many parents felt they should be involved in changes about their child’s care needs.

At the time Kirklees Council said they were required by law to tender out social care contracts and as part of that tendering process two of Mencap’s contracts were offered to HFT.

But there has been a u-turn – while HFT didn’t have a base in Kirklees it’s not known why they withdrew from their bid to provide day care services.

Dr Mills Daniel said: “This flawed and protracted commissioning/procurement process has subjected users and carers of the day service at Waverley Hall to weeks of anxiety and distress.

“From the council taxpayers perspective, it has also presumably been an expensive exercise. In the end it has left things exactly as they were.”

Dr Mills Daniel said his request for the issue to be heard by a council Overview and Scrutiny Panel was turned down.

On May 30 a Kirklees Council spokesman confirmed to the Examiner that HFT had been awarded Mencap’s contracts.

Only July 10 the spokesman said that the “appointment process for this contract has yet to be concluded”, adding: “It is not unusual for an appointment process to take some time as the detail can be complex and councils must always adhere to EU guidelines.”

Now a council spokesman said: “The people who use these services and carers, do have their voices heard as part of the tendering process.

“We always seek their views when developing the criteria that all bidders must meet – service users are very influential in helping to shape this.

“In this case, the involvement of service users and carers meant that the criteria we used fully reflected the things that people told us they wanted from their service.

“Once the tendering process is complete and a provider has been selected, we inform service users as soon as it’s possible to do so.

“We always think carefully about whether to let people who use our services know that the tender exercise is taking place.

“This is a sensitive issue, especially where vulnerable people are concerned. It could cause needless anxiety if, for example, the outcome was that there was no change in service after all.”