Well what just popped into my inbox? A joint statement produced by organisations representing Scottish Housing Associations, Scottish community care providers and the Edinburgh Voluntary Sector is extremely critical of LibDem/SNP plans to tender care services in the city every three years.

And well they might be critical - afterall it is these organisations that stand to lose out on funding. But it would seem they make some very good points. It would appear that council cost cutting plans will see the number of providers rapidly reduced, with new larger private sector providers taking over from lots of smaller, often specialist, providers in the not-for-profit sector.

If the council nods this through, the plans have the potential to seriously undermine patient choice and service quality, it will cut the number of providers, and it will undermine the viability of some voluntary organisations, and cause a huge amount of disruption to all the clients, staff and employers affected.

And it is typical of this administration that it is the most vulnerable that will be most affected. It seems that those deemed unable to manage 'direct payments' (i.e manage their own money, and decide who to pay for care services) will have no choice and no say about who provides their care. They will be forced to move to new providers. Not only does this mean a whole lot of stress for the service users as old relationships are ended and new ones need to be built, it would appear that the council plans to award the care contracts to private companies that, on the whole, have a worse track record of delivering quality care than the not-for-profit organisations they're set to replace. Indeed, some of the providers likely to get a contract don't have any track record of delivering specialist care services in some fields.

And if you are lucky enough to benefit from the council U-turn on direct payments, and you are deemed eligible to apply to manage your own care money so that you can choose your carer, you'll discover that the payment you get is 25% less than it was. In fact, only enough to buy in care from a large, private sector provider. What other council services are being cut by 25%?

So tough, the specialist support you were getting won't be there... And here's your new carer, SVQ level 1 Jane...

I've no doubt that Edinburgh Council needs to cut costs, but surely this is a brutal way to do it?

The whole statement is here.