A Bedford Borough councillor has secured a change to official committee minutes after arguing they downplayed the seriousness of allegations involving the treatment of a care worker employed by a council-commissioned provider.
At last night’s Adult Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday (13 January), cllr Tim Caswell (Lib Dem, Goldington) challenged wording in the minutes of a September session.
The minutes referred to “potential exploitation” of a member of staff by a third-party provider. “It is not an allegation of potential exploitation,” he said.
“It may not be true, it may need further investigation, but it is not an allegation of potential exploitation. It is an allegation of exploitation.”
Cllr Caswell suggested the wording in the draft minutes should be amended to remove the word “potential”.
He said the draft minutes read, “Cllr Caswell provided the committee with details regarding a case study where significant allegations have been made regarding the exploitation of a member of staff by a third-party provider.
“He asked whether this would meet the definition of modern slavery.
“Officers were unable to confirm this or provide any further comments, having not had the opportunity to review details of the specific case cited by cllr Caswell.”
And he said: “[I’m] respectfully asking that the word ‘potential’ be deleted.”
Cllr Caswell told the committee he had presented evidence of a care worker allegedly working around 90 hours a week while being paid for 60.
He said the worker was also not properly paid for travel time, receiving what he described as “50p an hour” for some journeys.
He said the worker had also allegedly been told she could be deported if she persisted in raising concerns.
He stated that he and a researcher had reported the provider to HMRC for suspected breaches of National Minimum Wage law, and had sought assistance from adult services to help the worker leave the employment.
He said he was dissatisfied with the response received.
He also told councillors that Bedfordshire Police had recorded 11 modern slavery cases in Bedford in 2023/24 and 25 in 2024/25, arguing that the issue should not be dismissed as rare or irrelevant locally.
The committee agreed to remove the word “potential” from the minutes and approved the amended record.
In December, Bedford Borough Council defended its policy of making recordings of meetings only publicly available for 12 months, stating: “The minutes of a meeting are the official record.”
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
