• I WAS shocked to read the report regarding the staffing at Central & Cecil’s Oldfield Estate and have since learnt that redundancy notices were given to the staff of all the sheltered housing units in Camden (seven in total); (Safety fears as estate jobs are axed at Christmas, January 11).

This was done without prior consultation with the tenants, who pay a service charge, on top of their rent, that includes provision of the support and security that the housing managers provide and which many depend upon.

To reduce the staff team that they trust puts the tenants at risk as their average age is increasing along with their subsequent vulnerability. It is simply madness.

It is widely acknowledged that the provision of vital services for the elderly has become ever more challenging financially but the charitable purpose of C&C is “to provide quality housing, care and support”.

In the past the Camden tenants and local residents had access to the two residential homes, Compton Lodge and Rathmore House but, like most local authorities, Camden can no longer meet the fees.

The result is that in future these homes will be 100 per cent privately funded by those who can afford over £1,000 a week, despite having been established originally by Marjorie Rackstraw, the founder of Hampstead Old People’s Housing Trust, for the “benefit of local residents of limited means”.

This has happened despite C&C receiving a very generous legacy seven years ago that could have been used to provide an endowment fund to subsidise fees for the less fortunate. Instead C&C chose to invest in the development of three flats to be let at market rents.

The impecunious and frail will now have a limited choice of residential care in their neighbourhood. They may find themselves without a choice and sent out of borough to areas where the fees are lower. This is not what the founders of the trust intended.

C&C link all their activity with the word “inspirational”. It does not describe their recent decisions in Camden.

FRANCOISE FINDLAY
Address supplied