Residential care for children will be operated by St Christopher's charity, the government has confirmed.

An appeal against the decision by the Children's Centre, which ran four homes, has failed.

From February, St Christopher's Isle of Man will be operating residential care, aftercare services and a new emotional wellbeing
service. The department of Health and Social Care says there has been an over-reliance on residential care and that services are being reshaped.

Defending its decision, the department says St Christopher's has been registered as a charity in the Isle of Man for more than ten years and that it won the contracts in a competitive tender process that considered both quality and cost criteria.

John Knight, Chief Executive for the Children's Centre, has made the following statement: ‘I am extremely disappointed that so many valued and loyal staff are feeling anxious and uncertain about their future, and that the charity will not be able to offer suitable alternative employment for most of them. It would be remiss of me to not point out that the Nurseries, After School and Holiday Clubs will continue to provide their excellent levels of service; and that we will endeavour to sustain our charitable work until we fully understand the impact of the current situation’.


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