One of the rewarding aspects of being a county councillor is the insight you get into what various council employees and indirectly contracted staff do. Surely one of the most challenging roles undertaken for residents is providing care for vulnerable people. It’s a job that simply couldn’t be done by anyone. It’s physically and emotionally hard work and requires the patience of a saint.

In Monmouthshire, we have some fantastic carers, many of whom work for companies which have a contract to deliver a service on behalf of the county council.

Lougher Home Care has provided support for vulnerable residents in Caerwent, Rogiet, Magor, Undy, Caldicot, Portskewett, Mathern and Chepstow for the last 15 years. It’s a small business based in Magor, which provides around 1,000 hours of care per week, helping older people to continue living independently in their own home. Often it is only this support which prevents an older person from going into residential care at enormous cost to themselves or the taxpayer.

My colleague Cllr Lisa Dymock and I recently visited some clients of Lougher to hear about the support they receive. The Council has recently retendered the contract for home care in southern Monmouthshire and is due to retender for home care in the north of the county later this year.

It has recently emerged that Lougher have lost the contract for most of southern Monmouthshire. Parts of Severnside will, from May, be served by Care Quality Services, a company based in Essex, although it already provides home care in other local authorities in South Wales.

The change in supplier means that older people will lose the carers they know and trust and begin a new relationship from scratch. It means a quality local business may be forced to lay off loyal members of staff. Surely the county council should be using its influence and its budget to champion local businesses? Last year, the council awarded the dairy contract to a company sourcing milk from West Wales.

After a public outcry, the council agreed to retender the contract, which was awarded back to Raglan Dairy. This is another example of a successful local business losing out to a national supplier.

My colleagues and I are liaising with Lougher Home Care and other local businesses concerned by the change in contract. We will be seeking reassurances from the council that tendering processes do not discriminate against smaller businesses, who must be able to compete for council contracts.