A LIFELINE has emerged to save the council-run home care service in South Gloucestershire.
Nearly 140 home carers' jobs were at risk because of council plans to privatise the service.
But councillors last night agreed to shelve a decision until after May.
This means the final decision will be taken out of the hands of cabinet councillor Matthew Riddle and put before a council committee.
Last week, councillors decided to scrap the cabinet system of running the council and replace it with old-style committees.
Councillor Janet Biggin (Con, Downend) proposed the delay at last night's meeting.
"This will allow further time for consideration of this very sensitive, complex and important decision," she said.
Her proposal was carried unanimously.
Mr Riddle (Con, Severn) promised at the meeting that he would not use his powers to make a decision before the new committees were introduced.
It is not clear at this stage which committee will make the final decision but it will probably consist of about ten councillors who are expected to discuss the issue sometime in June.
The political balance of the council is hung, with no party in overall control and this will be reflected by the make up of the committees.
The Tories are the biggest party with 34 members while the Lib Dems have 21 and Labour 15.
The Lib Dems are not whipped, which means they do not have to toe the party line on issues and therefore it is difficult to say at this stage what the final decision is likely to be.
But a round of applause broke out among home care workers and campaigners after the decision to defer, because they knew it was a further chance to save jobs and the council-run service.
GMB trade union official Rowena Hayward, who called for a deferment, said: "This decision will give us an opportunity to provide a council-run service which gives quality as well as value for money."
John Richardson, 69, from Patchway, whose elderly mother-in-law suffers from Alzheimer's disease, said: "I am pleased with the outcome because it gives us more time to forward our case."
Councillor Bill Bowery (Lab, Kings Chase) who has been campaigning to save the service, said if it was privatised, then it would remove any quality control on home care for the elderly and needy.
One of the points debated during the meeting was why the council said its home care service cost £35 an hour to run, yet the home carers themselves only received £8.70 an hour.
Lib Dem leader Ruth Davis (Yate Central) said the issue was not whether the service was privatised or remained in the public sector.
"It's the quality of care which is the crucial thing and this deferment will give us more time to look at this issue," she said.
Mr Riddle warned that the number of elderly people in the area was soaring. If the home care service was to remain in-house, then savings of £1 million would have to be found.
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