Serendipity saw the day I handed in my notice was the day the Integrated Joint Board of Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership decide to axe their HSCP Employability Service team, affectionately known as ACES.

The service provides support for those with a range of health related conditions such as mental health, physical, learning disabilities and recovering alcohol and substance users to move towards the world of work.

Senior management at Aberdeenshire Council/NHS Grampian Health and Social Care Partnership appear not to really understand the value of the service they want to throw away! 

They suggest that the hard pressed voluntary sector; and Aberdeenshire Council’s mainstream Employment Support Team (EST) will pick up the pieces, though that’s unlikely given that the EST already has a lot of work to do without supporting some of the Shire’s most marginalised communities.

It seems that HSCP management undervalue the service - during COVID the staff of ACES were reassigned to working in the Test and Protect service of NHS Grampian and the Aberdeenshire Covid Resistance Hub with the service’s work put on hold.

In February/March 2022 the Employability Service was again temporarily suspended with staff being mobilised to work in Care Homes and Sheltered Housing - even though none of these establishments actually needed additional staffing. This mobilisation was halted after a month and staff were able to return to their work of supporting the people they worked with into a range of employment related volunteering and also into paid employment.

The HSCP Employability Service supports around 350+ service users - those with a range of Health related conditions to move towards and into employment.

These are not some nameless individuals, but real human beings, with support needs based on a range of mental health; physical disabilities; recovering substance and alcohol users; and those with mild learning disabilities. ACES also support people on the Autistic spectrum.

Over the years, thousands of people have been supported into sustainable employment and moved towards volunteering with a view to learning basic employment skills.

These include H, who was sleeping on the beach due to alcohol dependency.  They had sunk so low they had lost their home and with it self respect.  

Working with ACES, H gained a volunteer position and was able to re-gain their self-respect and move into paid employment where they some years later still remain.

T, a young person with a mild learning disability was supported into work and now cleans for a major supermarket.

G, was in work though they experienced bullying from their employer based on their protected characteristics.  G thought they might never work again. G’s Employability Officer offered support to G, showing them they were valued as a person.  G went on to gain permanent employment in their former field of work, though with a more enlightened employer who valued their experience seeing it as an asset.

S, has a physical disability and was supported into work as a checkout assistant with a major supermarket.

R, a young person with complex needs was supported into work, they were supported into a job as a customer service assistant with a major supermarket.

D, who is neuro-divergent works in an administrative role. 

E, who has an acquired brain injury used to go from cafe to cafe with their carer. E’s social worker did not have a clear plan for E.  

After Engagement with ACES E was supported to volunteer in a recycling enterprise - this totally changed E’s outlook on life - they had a purpose and was a well liked colleague until their untimely death.

J was supported by the Employability Service team to undertake some of their community payback hours at a social enterprise. They learnt several new skills and also an ability to believe in their self worth.

Z, a profoundly deaf person was supported to find a new job when their employer closed up shop. They gained employment the month after they were made redundant.

P set up enterprise after learning new skills - they have been in business for several years having been supported by a major. P never thought they would gain employment and be able to live a normal life.  ACES support made them the “Same As You”!

These are just a handful of people who were supported by the ACES team to reach their potential and become valued members of society.

Yet Aberdeenshire Council HSCP Managers through their Integrated Joint Board with NHS Grampian wants to axe the team because they say it costs too much money and they don’t see its value.  

However, it seems that they don’t understand what the team does and that it actually saves money through preventative work.

This is a short sighted approach by those who seem to have forgotten the basic social work values (as defined by the British Association of Social Work) which are:

social justice 

dignity and worth of the individual

integrity

importance of human relationships 

self determination 

competence

The clients of the service will be cast adrift, reliant on the already overstretched voluntary sector to pick up the slack.  

However, the client group tend to come from the early stages of the Employability pipeline (as defined by the Scottish Government) and they take longer to complete basic skills due to their disabilities and health related conditions.

The voluntary sector relies on payments to fund their services - they can only survive by “cherry picking” clients who they think will achieve pre-determined outcomes within pre-determined timescales.

From the Scottish Government’s own statistics, only 40% of country’s disabled people are in paid employment, compared with 80% of Scotland’s population who don’t have a disability. Unfortunately our society tends to categorise people into whether they work or not.

Work provides social interaction and a feeling of self worth as well as making them more economically independent and less reliant on social work and health services.

Although the staff team are deemed to be re-deployable, this seems unlikely as Aberdeenshire Council has chosen not to ring fence current vacancies and will only consider/match those whose posts are deemed redundant against the current pool of vacancies - such a process could take a few months and there may not be suitable vacancies meaning the staff will be made “compulsory” redundant - this is something which Aberdeenshire Council’s CEO has stated on a number of occasions as something the authority would not want to do.

However, the policies of the Council work against this stated wish.

AHSCP also have a duplicate management system - 3 partnership managers plus 3 sets of location and specialist managers for North, Central and South Aberdeenshire - if some of this was streamlined then more money would be available for front line services. 

So please support this petition to ask the councillors of Aberdeenshire Council and the members of the Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership Integrated Joint Board to reconsider their decision to axe this vital service.  It is accepted that savings to the budget have to be made, but at what cost?

Prevention is better than cure and the work of the HSCP Employability Service offers hope to people society has often written off.  The services it offers give dignity to the individual.  

Lastly, a society is often judged by how it treats its most marginalised members - sadly it seems the decision of the IJB to axe the HSCP has written off a section of  Aberdeenshire’s most marginalised citizens.                
                                                   Please support this call for action, it’s not too late to reverse this decision.  

Please contact your local Aberdeenshire councillors, their contact details can be found at: https://online.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/apps/wards-map/
as well as members of the  Aberdeenshire IJB via NHS Grampian,
Summerfield House
2 Eday Road
Aberdeen
AB15 6RE

Email: gram.communications@nhs.scot and say you don’t support the decision to axe this vital service.

Thank you on behalf of the past, current and future users of the Aberdeenshire HSCP Employability Service.