Islanders can no longer seek help and advice from the Isle of Wight Council’s contact centre at the weekend, as the local authority has cut the service’s opening hours to save money. Opening times of the centre at County Hall, Newport have been reduced as of 1st April. It means the service is opening later, closing earlier and there is now no weekend support at all. t will only be availble from Monday to Friday between 09:00 to 17:00. The contact centre is open for Islanders in the heart of Newport, to seek help and advice from the team on a number of issues, including Council tax and financial queries — or they can point you in the right direction to a service which can help. Previously, it was open from 08:00 to 18:00 Monday to Friday and 09:00 to 13:00 on Saturday. The decision to cut the hours was made as part of the Isle of Wight Council’s budget-saving measures in February and will make the authority £29,400. The council also operates help centres in Ryde and Newport, where residents can book face-to-face appointments to seek help. You can book an appointment for either County Hall or Ryde Library by phoning 01983 823134.
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I know a brilliant way of saying money stop spending it on the chain ferry
Boring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
Great now nobody with a 9-5 job can contact the council. Fabulous. You’d be better off doing Tue-Sat to enable more people to contact whilst still having two days off.
So the people working and paying for all this are the ones that loose access. Maybe keep it open at the weekend and close it three days in the week.
The decision to cut the hours was made as part of the Isle of Wight Council’s budget-saving measures in February and will make the authority £29,400.
and if they made cuts that actually have a real impact instead of engaging in a process of “rearranging the deckchairs on the titanic”, they would have cut the free taxis for SEND kids, which would save over £1 million a year in a single move.
£2.2 million last year for taxis, disgusting waste of money.
To provide disaffected kids with an education they’d struggle to access otherwise. No mention of the £250m spent on island roads PFI contract in the last ten years though, half of which is interest payments? Or the interest payments into healthcare meaning that our elderly no longer get the social home help to keep them independent so they bed-block the NHS? Maybe a look at the wider picture rather than point fingers at an innocent demographic?
“fail to access otherwise”, they can sit in a class once at school so use a normal bus, or get mummy or daddy to take them in the car. I can point my finger where ever I want thank you. £2.2 million IS A WASTE OF OUR MONEY.
well said stark – if people like karen want to fund these kids taxi’s then crack on, however, the rest of us didn’t bring them into the world and as such are not responsible for them in anyway, shape or form and that includes financially.
Those kids parents should pay for their offspring, just like everyone else- equality and all that
Spot on. That lefty preaching creature hasn’t a clue. The parents of the SEN children which THEY not us but they bought into this world are wrongly paid way too much for imposing their wishes of having the nere do wells go to normal schools of their choice but the getting us to pay to transport these likely burdens forever on us all.
Most of them claim a disability car but why use it when we pay others to pander to their costly tragic mistakes.
Physically and mentally impaired children cannot just get a bus, and many parents don’t have a car. THE LAW states that if a child lives more than 3 miles from a designated school free transport must be provided. MOST children on the island get free transport, and the figures you badly quoted include that. Point your finger where it belongs but do not dog-whistle for everyone to jump on board when you clearly don’t know the facts. Why? Because it denigrates a whole section of our vulnerable community, namely, children with needs you may not know about. There are far more disgusting wastes of money, and rarely is any community responsible, so take your tunnel vision, your blame and your pointy finger and look elsewhere.
blah, blah, blah, heard it all before. “Badly Quoted” really
https://www.islandecho.co.uk/council-shells-out-more-than-6million-on-taxis-for-schoolchildren/
Interesting reading. I know the facts, I can read, as I went to school and didn’t any handouts from the taxpayer to do it either. My pointy finger is ready for the next item.
you pay for them then karen and using capitals means shouting – your arrogance is breathtaking. You will find that most people don’t like seeing people leeching off others – your kids you pay – take the hint
physically and mentally impaired children cannot just get a bus, and many parents don’t have a car.
ahh ha ha what a load of tripe. Every single one of them has access to a car – nearly every one who is disabled can get a car through the motability scheme – these leeches just want the taxpayer to fund their kids expenses – well we disagree – we don’t want to pay for other kids freebie taxi’s
sooner we see a downturn in the economy and budgets get tightened further, meaning more cuts to these freeloading benefit lot the better.
Disaffected?
‘The adjective disaffected describes someone who is dissatisfied or rebellious’
So, because a child is rebellious, or difficult in other words, they get rewarded by getting free of charge taxis to and from school?
I’d love to hear the logic behind that but, based on previous comments by ‘karen’, it would make as much sense as a chocolate teapot.
And this is why the term is used in education. ‘Disaffection can take many forms and it may be considered strange to suggest that students with severe physical disability might show but the remotest symptom of it. However, if one takes the view that disaffection in education might be any behavioural factor that prevents positive learning taking place, then it can be argued that this student group can show every bit as much disaffection as can any other student group’.
“It is now recognised that the term ‘disaffection’ is probably inappropriate as a catch-all phrase to depict young people who are disconnected or disengaged from mainstream routes of transition to adulthood. Disengagement is more apposite because it conveys the outcome of actions taken by institutions and individuals, intentional or otherwise. It does not apportion blame and responsibility”.
Agreed, these kid’s needs to access education for a few years to enable the majority of them to work in future. If not they will claim benefits until retirement and some will end up in prison, so need education, have to say that cost of taxis however is ridiculous,in day’s past council would provide and drive own minibuses( plenty council education staff just sitting around sending emails not even teachers)to school, saved money and helped kids social interactions instead of one in a taxi .
I thought most of the lazy B’stards were still working from home.
Council,won’t save £29,000 . The staff will have to claim benefits more council tax and parking fines with escalate, potentially dangerous situations eg sale of fake goods, highway needs etc. Lack of advice for hundreds of thing’s from planning to residential care, environmental health and parking etc. Could easily of saved this amount by not replacing blinds or office chairs in County Hall. The reception area recently done was £150,000. They just spent £25,000 to see how council can change making decisions. This Council need out as not serving the public. Many working people can’t call or get County Hall in core work hours, elderly don’t do online. Like tip – surposidly for public but open for working hours, should be 6am-10pm w/ends.
Well if we had a bridge or tunnel we wouldn’t even need an Isle of Wight Council….that WOULD save money.
A Bridge or Tunnel would make this island millions.
Why have it at all? Dozens of phone numbers pretending to be different departments but all go through to a call centre where call centre staff refuse to put you through to the department you thought you were calling and just take a message.
Might as well just have a recording machine and no staff at all.
As a never ending number of newcomers each day illegally enter our country bringing nothing except for filled wombs and once eradicated diseases back to our country then central government can no longer afford to fund the UKs population as it once did.
It is not coincidence that in any country these beings settle en masse poverty, misery and overcrowding and crime soon follow
£29400? Council could squander that in one afternoon… Probably paid a think tank £50000 to come up with the idea.
This is an outrage!! I’m going to contact the contact centre immediately for some advice… oh wait…