DOZENS of jobs have been put at risk following the decision to close a Brierley Hill children's home.

Prior to the temporary closure of Parkes Street Children’s Home in April, Dudley Council said police intervention had reached an "unacceptable level" due to the behaviour of youngsters.

A full enquiry was launched to see how the service could be improved but after uncovering concerns about the position of the building, the number and length of placements and issues with management, council bosses decided the six-bed assessment centre was "not fit for purpose".

By closing the home for good, the council stands to save £670,000 per year but the decision has placed 73 of the authority's residential children centres' employees at risk of redundancy - including the 17 staff members who were employed at Parkes Street.

Councillor Ian Cooper, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “In order to deliver the best care and support we can to our vulnerable young people we are reviewing all of our children's homes and Parkes Street was one of the first homes we looked at.

"It is an older building and one of our smaller short-stay assessment centres, for children aged 12 to 17, which has not been at full occupancy for some time.

“In order to make the best use of resources and ensure the necessary support for these vulnerable young people we temporarily closed this under occupied home in April while we reviewed its future.

"The home has been empty during this review period, with staff temporarily redeployed and alternative suitable settings found for our young people, whose wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do."

Cllr Cooper continued: "No decision has been made as to the effect on the 17 staff employed at the home as we are currently consulting with them and exploring options such as redeployment, redundancy bumping, retirement and voluntary redundancy."