The Astley Centre is now run by Diagrama Foundation on a five-year £8m contract, with three more years possible. What changes for families, and what does not.

The council’s day service for adults with complex learning disabilities has changed hands. Diagrama Foundation, a Kent charity, is now running the Astley Centre on Magpie Hall Lane under a contract the council estimates at £8 million over its life.

The council announced the change on 9 September. The Executive awarded an initial five-year contract, with an option to extend it by three further years (London Borough of Bromley).

The council’s wording is worth reading carefully. It says Diagrama is “operating the Council’s Learning Disabilities Complex Needs Day Service”. The service stays the council’s. The organisation delivering it is the part that has changed.

What the Astley Centre is

It sits at 39 Magpie Hall Lane, Bromley BR2 8ED, and opens Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm. The council describes it as a complex needs day care service for adults aged 18 and over, with no upper age limit, for people with a range of learning disabilities. Many of those who attend cannot access further education or work.

What the centre offers, in the council’s own listing:

  • a quiet room with books, and a sensory room
  • sing-along music sessions and Sing & Sign
  • arts and crafts
  • a woodwork refurbishing project
  • gardening and cooking

The outdoor space is used for something separate and worth knowing about: young people do work experience and vocational training in horticulture there, through a partnership with Bromley Mencap. The centre also runs an activity club for young people on alternate Saturdays and through the school and college holidays (Bromley Council, SEND day opportunities).

Diagrama is not new to the borough

The charity has held a Bromley contract for more than five years already, and the public record is more specific than the press release.

A Contracts Finder award notice records that the council awarded Diagrama Healthcare Services Ltd a Supported Living Services contract on 10 February 2021, running from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2030. The notice describes it as supported living for 35 people with a learning disability, who may also have autism, behaviours that challenge, complex health needs or mental health needs, across nine properties in the borough. Everyone living in them holds their own tenancy with a registered social landlord (Contracts Finder).

The council calls that service award-winning. Diagrama also runs three homes for adults with learning disabilities in Orpington, according to the notes attached to the council’s announcement.

What both sides said

Councillor Diane Smith, Executive Councillor for Adult Care and Health, said: “We are pleased to be working with the Diagrama Foundation to help deliver these much-valued services. I know the team have been working hard to ensure that there is continuity of care and support as we seek to continue to deliver high-quality support for people with learning disabilities and complex needs.”

David McGuire, Chief Executive of Diagrama Foundation, said: “Our priority will be to ensure continuity for the people who currently attend, their families and the staff. From there, we will focus on co-production, working closely with service users, staff and family members to develop the service, ensuring that people’s views, preferences, strengths and wishes help shape future plans.”

Both statements lead on the same word, continuity. Neither says what, if anything, will be different.

What the council has not published

Three things are missing from the record, and they are the three a family would ask first.

  • How many people attend the Astley Centre. The announcement gives a contract value but no headcount. The £8 million figure cannot be read as a cost per person without it.
  • Who delivered the service before, and what happened to the staff. The announcement does not name a previous provider or say whether staff transferred.
  • The Executive report itself. The council says the appointment follows an Executive decision. The report behind that decision is not surfaced from the news page, and the council’s committee site search did not return it to us on 16 September.

We have not inferred answers to any of those. If the council publishes the report, we will add the detail here.

What it means for you

If you or a relative uses the Astley Centre, the practical position today is that the address, the hours and the activities are unchanged, and the council still owns the service. The centre manager’s contact details on the council’s own SEND page are now Diagrama addresses, so the day-to-day point of contact has moved to the charity.

If you want to change or review a care package rather than ask about the centre itself, that goes through the council’s adult social care team, not the provider.

Two related things on this site: our guide to Bromley council tax bands covers what the adult social care precept adds to a bill, and our report on the council’s £4.6m budget overspend shows where adult social care sits in this year’s pressures.

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