I KNOW the announced closures of county council residential homes isn't an easy subject for many, so I hope this detailed response to Lesley Whittaker's correspondence will help explain the rationale behind the decision. Devon CC had a budget of £600m three years ago, by 2017 it will have reduced to £400m. When you lose a third of your income you have to find a way of providing the same services to as many people as possible. With such a big loss of money things have to change and different things have to be done. If we don't take this action then we have to look elsewhere to find the savings.   We had considered increasing the eligibility threshold which would have reduced the number of people we support leaving only those with critical needs being supported.   This was rejected because it did not fulfil the need to continue funding as many people as possible at the same level as now.   The change is that DCC will not provide that care but others will.  DCC already purchase 90% of the beds they need from the private sector, the total cost of residential care is £70m per year. However the 10% of people who are currently in DCC homes cost 30% of this budget. No one will lose access to the same service and support they get now funded by DCC. You have been misinformed to say that the Lyric or Puzzletree day centres are being lost to Okehampton — they are not.   The decision is to combine them into one centre which will preserve the service provided by DCC but will reduce some of the costs of running them, for example, they will share management, property and some staff.  People who currently receive a service from the current centre will continue to have a centre based service. While you are correct to say we are no longer going to provide reablement in buildings like care homes, the provision will still be available.  It is a service best delivered in people's homes because that is where they will continue to live after their reablement ends.   Current schemes in other areas of Devon provide 24 hour support for the first few days after a discharge from hospital, then up to 28 days from reablement teams. We have sufficient experience of this to know that people who are discharged to home get better quicker and make a better recovery.  Many no longer need a care service after receiving this support.  Experience shows that this kind of service can help more people than previously received help in care homes at a lower cost. The future care homes need to have bigger rooms with better access.  The number of people going into residential homes is reducing year on year because we are looking after people with more complex needs at home, where they would rather be.   Those who will need a residential home will have more critical support needs, many will need to be hoisted in and out of bed and it isn't possible to do this easily in the small rooms of Wardhayes.   The current minimum standard for rooms is four sq metres — most rooms in DCC homes are three sq metres. It may not seem a lot but the difference usually allows a bed in the middle of a wall so that carers can be either side when supporting people and it allows room for a hoist. There has already been investment in a new form of care facility in Okehampton, there is an Extra Care housing development where people can enjoy the freedom of living in their own home with the extra space it brings over a residential care room. They get on site access to 24/7 care which means that can live independently for much longer.   The Care Act which comes into effect from next April will see more need for this type of accommodation because people will only be able to amass their care fees to reach the governments cap on care fees of £75k — the accommodation costs of residential homes will not count towards this cap. The main parties at Westminster are all saying that local authority grants will continue to be squeezed, the approach is no different from any of them.   Devon CC is doing everything it can to keep as many people receiving support when they most need it. DCC are not taking away anyone's entitlement to residential care or to a day centre place. As the local member, I have been reassured that DCC understand the personal impact on individuals and their families. During this process, there will be dedicated support to ensure that those impacted are supported throughout. It is recognised that each person is different, and they will be worked with to find the best solution. Finally, DCC are still open to any community run solutions that may be proposed. If anyone has any ideas for this, please contact DCC via the Tough Choices website. Cllr Kevin Ball Devon County Council member of Okehampton Rural Division