Thurrock Council is set to close two day care centres and its meals on wheels service to save more than £500,000.

The council is about to restart its day care centres following the lifting of lockdown restrictions.

Prior to the pandemic these were delivered from the Bellhouse centre in a converted shop in south Ockendon, Kynock Court sheltered housing scheme in Stanford-le-Hope and a centre in Cromwell Road, Grays, a purpose-built site with a number of rooms for varied activities.

When the day care service resumes, it will be offered only at Cromwell Road from 9am to 4pm. There will be an increase in the activities offered and opportunities for informal caregivers and other community groups to meet and support service users and each other. A virtual friendship is also being launched for those don’t attend day care centres.

The Meals on Wheels service, formerly run by the WRVS but now managed by the council, operates from a council-owned building in Corran Way, South Ockendon. It is need of refurbishment but if the service closes it is likely the site will be sold to developers.

A report to Health and Wellbeing Board councillors ahead of a meeting today said: “The service is now extremely costly due to its declining popularity, with fewer than 90 regular service users. This represents a reduction of 26 per cent in service users over the past six years and is likely to be the result of newer and more desirable options being available, including online foods services and improved supermarket delivery of ready meals.”

The council also wants to streamline adult social services by closer working between its four statutory services, Collins House Residential Care, Extra Care Piggs Corner and Thurrock Care At Home.

Wellbeing teams, small teams of ten working with individuals to provide personalised care and rehabilitation support, have been piloted in Tilbury and Chadwell for the past two years and have resulted in a seven-fold reduction in GP visits and a three-fold reduction and hospital emissions.

The council estimates this streamlining of services and day care centres will save £349,000. A further £190,000 will be saved by decommissioning the Meals on Wheels service and the council will earn £15,000 by reletting the Bell House shop.