Wellington House is in north Brighton, and known to the people who frequent it as Welly. It has the austere look of an old Victorian school, but what goes on inside is all about care and empathy. The building is the home of the city’s last council-run day centre for adults with complex needs, autism and learning disabilities, 21 of whom are reckoned to be regular attenders. One of its “service users” has been going there for 40 years; another has clocked up 24. Many of them know the staff as friends and confidants; for their carers, the time they spend at Wellington House represents precious respite.

That is the human picture; the accompanying tale of budgets and bureaucracy is altogether harder and colder. After five other council day-centre closures in the city over the past 20 years, Welly may well be on its way to the same fate. Brighton and Hove city council says its proposed shutdown will save £400,000 a year, and it will ensure that everyone’s “individual needs” are met elsewhere, thanks to schemes and services provided through what it calls “the independent sector market”.

On paper, that might make complete financial sense. But caring for adults with special needs – who often require one-to-one support – is always expensive, and the imperatives of balance sheets say nothing about people’s needs for stability and consistency. The community of carers and their supporters protesting against the planned shutdown have one key question – is complete closure really the only option? – and a long list of other complaints, not least what they say is the unsuitability of the alternatives they’ve been offered, which may result in people having to be placed in way more costly residential care.

The council says it is “confident that the range of providers overall will be able to adapt and meet the........

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