THE first casualty of the Forest of Dean District Council's battle to bridge its now infamous financial black hole – estimated this week at £1.1m – will be the locally operated Linkline 24 hour emergency monitoring room.

Instead of being run from the council's office in Coleford calls will be picked up by an independent company, probably functioning from a purpose-built control centre elsewhere in the country.

The tender forms are being prepared this week. It is anticipated the move to an outside provider will save the council as much as £50k a year, though this would be reduced in the first year because of redundancy payments.

It is anticipated the change-over would be seamless.

Spokesman Mr Tony Wisdom said: "Customers will receive the same or a better quality service at significantly lower cost to the council."

At present a dozen staff provide an around the clock monitoring service. For just £2.70p a week users such as those who live alone, the housebound and older or disabled people, are linked by an alarm unit – a pendant which can be worn on a cord around the neck or as a wrist strap – to the Coleford control centre.

The system has become increasingly sophisticated and sensors can even detect if a person has had a fall or even if a bath has overflowed.

Mr Wisdom confirmed that the decision to seek an outside provider was agreed by the council's cabinet in November and coincided with the completion of a contract with Two Rivers Housing first agreed when they took control of the council's housing stock.

He said the provision of Linkline was discretionary – it was a service the council was not obliged to provide.

A caller to the Review said on Tuesday that Linkline users should not worry about the change-over but should be aware at least 12 jobs would be lost.

"The decision not to re-tender for the current contracts and to put out for tender the control and monitoring of the alarms the council install, is so mistaken. Instead of a locally controlled service it will be run from goodness knows where and of what loss of quality to the user? The service has been undermined by poor management and monitoring by senior officers which has damaged its cost effectiveness. It is so wrong that due to the failure of management the Linkline team will lose their jobs later this year.

"The team who operate the Linkline are a dedicated, hardworking group who are there 24/7 for the vulnerable members of the community. They save lives, they comfort and reassure, they help when things go wrong and they are sometimes the only contact a person may have that day.

"It's the same old story. Those on the ground floor get canned and those higher up the ladder get a pay rise. Instead of sacking the people who actually do the job, start the cull higher up the ladder and cut salaries of those on £50k plus or get rid of ineffective managers."

The caller urged users to start a campaign to keep jobs in the Forest by writing to Mr Tim Perrin, the council's chief executive, the leader of the council, Marion Winship, or to contact their local councillor.