Joint Statement from Lancashire County Council and Lancashire Centre For Independent Living

Joint Statement from LCIL and Lancashire County Council
The Lancashire Centre for independent Living has provided excellent support for many citizens, supporting people to use direct payments, manage bank accounts and support the development of the community pathway.
It has become increasingly difficult to maintain a viable board of trustees. Several board members, who have supported LCIL with great determination and energy, have now stepped down from the board, for personal reasons.
There has been a strong campaign to recruit additional board members over the past 12 months, unfortunately no new board members have been appointed.
The board now only has one member and clearly cannot provide the necessary management capacity to run the organisation safely.
Therefore a joint decision was taken on the 21st of December by LCIL and the County Council to make sure that the services to citizens is protected and the staff can continue in their paid employment to deliver the service. To achieve those aims, the County council will now identify and appoint a new partner organisation to take over the existing services delivered by LCIL.
This will guarantee that the service currently offered will be maintained to the usual high standard enjoyed by people using the service and that the staff will also transfer under their existing terms and conditions to the new partner organisation.
The existing LCIL board member and three previous board members will now work very closely with county council officers to ensure the transfer to a new partner organisation can happen quickly and without any disruption to the delivery of the service. We expect that the staff currently employed by LCIL will choose to transfer to the new partner organisation under the same terms and conditions they currently have.
The earliest date this may happen by is the end of January 2012. There will be regular updates on progress
We expect the same high level of service and support currently offered to citizens will continue during the transfer and maintaining the service level and quality will be a key priority for the new partner appointed by the county council.