North Ayrshire Council has stepped in to save 37 jobs following the collapse of a home care firm.
Vulnerable residents were left in the lurch last Friday after Assist Homecare (Scotland) was served with a winding-up order after amassing more than £500,000 of debt.
Employees of the firm, which was based in Stevenston and provided care to 43 North Ayrshire residents, were informed that their contracts would be terminated with immediate effect.
Amid serious concerns for the welfare of care users and workers, North Ayrshire health and social care partnership (NAHSCP) ensured exisiting staff were able to continue working over the weekend and beyond.
Now all 37 of Assist's care staff have accepted council contracts, with services to former clients being provided by NAHSCP as of yesterday.
Councillor Margaret Johnson, cabinet member for health and social care at the council, said: “This has been an extremely distressing time for service users and staff of Assist Homecare.
"Our priority over these past few days has been to ensure the care needs of their service users continued to be met, while supporting staff and working towards a longer-term solution.
“We are delighted that there has been a positive outcome to this situation in being able to offer contracts to all of Assist’s care staff, who will now continue to provide high-quality support to North Ayrshire residents via our in-house care team.”
Assist Homecare provided around 1,060 hours per week of care, including sleepovers, to people with learning disabilities, physical disabilities and a handful of older people.
It's understood HMRC served the firm with a winding-up notice as a result of non-payment of PAYE (staff tax and National Insurance contributions) over the last three years, accumulating a debt of over £500,000.
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