UNISON members at Central Hill Day Centre are voting for strike action to save jobs and prevent the local specialist dementia service from closing.
Lambeth Council has announced cost saving plans to close the Day Centre and have a reduced service at Aspire, a nearby organisation that currently works with adults with learning difficulties.
The current team of staff that specialise in dementia care will lose 10 posts and the remaining staff will be reallocated to a single room at Aspire.
Staff, carers and UNISON do not believe that this is a proposal that delivers for people with dementia in Lambeth. The Day Centre is the only specialist dementia service the Council provides – in a borough with an ageing population where instances of dementia are likely to increase.
Management claim that there is reduced need for the service because they imposed an 18 month review which saw people living with dementia signposted elsewhere even when they would have benefited from the day centres expert care.
The Council’s position that there is a reduced demand for dementia services is ridiculous and primarily driven by cost saving demands.
UNISON joint branch secretary Simon Hannah said “this is an essential service that has been cynically run down by the council over the last 2 years and now faces closure. Lambeth is failing in its duty of care to people with dementia and their families. Staff and the local community will fight this all the way. We are calling on the council to do what is right, stop the closure and properly resource this service.”
The ballot will run throughout April just as Labour councillors are seeking election for Council seats.
The day care centre on Central Hill Estate is run by Lambeth Council to provide dementia care for residents in the borough. There are around 2000 people living with dementia in Lambeth and that figure is set to rise as the elderly population increases over the coming years.
Now Lambeth Council are proposing to close the adult day care centre on Central Hill Estate. This would lead to the loss of 10 posts and a much reduced “bespoke” service nearby. This is a short sighted move driven by financial considerations not residents needs.
Management say that the number of people using the service has declined by 50% since 2020. They also cite “overspend” of £5.5 million on Adult services which is part of the ongoing financial crisis in local finance.
The reality is the service has been run down by Lambeth Council for a while now whilst the number of people diagnosed with dementia in the borough is increasing. Lambeth has some of the highest numbers of people with dementia in the capital yet claims it cannot sustain numbers of service users? Now the community is paying the price.
A number of referrals to the service in the last 18 months have been refused. Recent operational records raise serious concern about how the service has been reduced. Council data shows:
57 people were listed as using the service in January 2023 post Covid
Only 28 people were still attending by December 2024 to date
That is a reduction of 29 people — over 50% of the cohort in less than two years
We do not accept that this demonstrates reduced demand. Rather, the evidence indicates that people who needed the service were not being referred or were turned away, while dementia prevalence in the borough continues to rise. At the same time, attendance records show 19 referrals were rejected during the review period and referrals are still on hold one year later for no good reason. Had those referrals proceeded, the service would have supported around 47 people plus, close to previous levels once normal turnover in dementia services is considered.
Many believe that the decision to close the site was taken 18 months ago and this is a process of running down the service to make its closure ‘inevitable’. Local managers were excluded from budget deciding meetings despite normally attending. Service users were consulted on some proposed changes in a way that staff felt obscured what was really happening.
Considering this is part of a saving of £800,000 it is a huge loss for such a small amount. The Councils own pay data shows senior management (on roughly over 100k) cost over £8 million a year.[Link] The disaster over Homes For Lambeth has cost the council nearly £60 million.[link] And data from 2025 shows the Council is owed over £62 million in unpaid invoices and debts.[link]
The staff want to fight to save this local service and the trade unions are backing them!
Write to the Cabinet Members for Healthier Communities (job share) Councillor Nanda Manley-Browne and Councillor David Bridson to outline your concerns.
UNISON have registered a trade dispute due to concerns UNISON members have raised about the reorganisations at Lambeth Council in the Resident Services Directorate. This follows our members meeting in May 2025.
Motion to Lambeth UNISON April 2025 Branch Committee
This union branch notes:
The peaceful protests in August 2024 against increasing hunger, economic and social crisis in Nigeria and taking place under the #EndBadGovernance banner were met by brutal repression.
The Nigerian government, headed by President Bola Tinubu, has pursued a policy of harassment and persecution of critics of its policies and the activists who mobilised under the #EndBadGovernance banner, and, increasingly, trade unions and their leaders.
At least 1,400 peaceful protesters have been detained mostly without trial. A number of activists have been charged with “treason”, which carries the death penalty, including Adaramoye Michael, National Coordinator of the Youth Rights Campaign, and Mosiu Sodiq, both in Abuja. The bail conditions offered are extremely difficult for any normal Nigerian to meet and in practice has simply extended their detention, Many others remain in detention without charge, such as Daniel Akande, also in Abuja.
The Nigerian Labour Congress trade union federation, and its president Joe Ajaero, have faced continual harassment and trumped-up charges, including “terrorism financing”, and was prevented by the Nigerian secret service from attending the British Trades Union Congress (TUC) conference in September 2024.
In August the British TUC called for:
The End of criminalisation of peaceful protest and end harassment of government opponents
Immediate, and unconditionally, release all those held in connection with the protests
This union branch supports these demands of the British TUC and believes:
The Tinubu government is attacking democratic rights, including the right to protest, freedom of assembly and workers’ right to organise.
That the detained and charged activists are political prisoners.
There needs to be a strong response from the international labour and workers movement making clear its solidarity with all Nigerians struggling to improve their living conditions and coming to the defence of persecuted activists and trade unionists.
The Tinubu government must drop all charges and release all political prisoners immediately and end its campaign of harassment against the NLC and its leaders and activists.
An independent and accountable enquiry into the killings of protesters and that their murderers, including in the state forces, are prosecuted
This union branch agrees to:
Promote, mobilise and if possible organise local protests and photos in solidarity with the Nigerian struggle and the defence of Nigerian activists and trade unionists. Sharing any pictures to contact@nigeriasolidarity.com
Post a solidarity message on social media and send a letter to the Nigerian High Commissions and embassies demanding the immediate dropping of charges and release of prisoners and for an end to the campaign of harassment against the Nigerian workers movement. (Sending copies of all protests to the Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights campaignworkers@yahoo.co.uk, the Youth Rights Campaign yrccampaigns@gmail.com and Nigeria Solidarity contact@nigeriasolidarity.com)
Share information about the campaign with our members and in the wider Labour and workers’ movement, encouraging other structures and organisations to take the same action that we have.
Proposed: Andy Tullis – Convenor Children’s Services
Lambeth UNISON organised a protest on 5 March against the £99 million in cuts being inflicted on the people of Lambeth by the government and local councillors.
The protest included local residents, Friends of Lambeth Libraries, UNISON activists from Camden, Islington and Tower Hamlets, as well as the NEU (teachers union) and GMB.
The mood was defiant and the campaign is just getting started.
If you live or work in Lambeth and want to fight for a better borough with fully funded and expanded services then please get in touch LambethSolidarity@gmx.com
Lambeth UNISON 