Devon County Councillors have decided that a decision on the future of four Devon County Council residential homes for the elderly will not be made until later next year. County councillors have decided that the four homes – Kenwyn in Ashburton, Barnhaven in Bampton, Orchard Lea in Cullompton and Daw Vale in Dawlish – should be included in a larger tendering exercise due to begin in October. Devon County Council announced in May this year that it was inviting expressions of interest from the independent, voluntary and not-for-profit sectors to operate all the county council's remaining in-house residential and domiciliary care services. Like most other local authorities, Devon County Council intends to buy all of its services and care for older people instead of directly providing it itself, to enable the county council to spend less on administration and more on the services that people in Devon need. Devon already buys 90 per cent of residential care, 70 per cent of domiciliary care and 40 per cent day care from the private, voluntary and not-for-profit sectors. After a tender process earlier this year, two organisations were short-listed from more than 20 applications to take over the running of residential services in the four towns. However it has been decided that, based on the detailed submissions received, neither of the two organisations currently meets the requirements set out by Devon County Council in its tender documents. Cllr John Rawlinson, Devon County Council's executive member for adult and community services, said: 'Although the two shortlisted organisations have presented us with some excellent ideas and can clearly demonstrate high quality services, we believe that we can do better. 'This is why we're making the homes available again to the open market. 'We need those organisations to come up with proposals that meet our requirements for providing social care for older people which is fit for the 21st century. 'with the interest shown so far from private care professionals, we're very confident that we will find the right providers to continue to provide our services.' Assistant director of adult and community services, Sam Newman, said: 'With our elderly population growing faster here in Devon than elsewhere in the country, it's imperative that we put in place the kind of services that will meet the needs of older people in Devon now and well into the future. 'By including Barnhaven, Orchard Lea, Daw Vale and Kenwyn in the larger tender process, interested organisations will have a good overview of what services are required in all areas of the county.'
