Health chiefs have announced they are ending a home cleaning contract with a company owned by the department’s Minister, Kate Beecroft.

The move is expected to save £140,000 a year.

DHSC Kate Beecroft said she had absented herself from any discussion about her Manx Home Care company. ’I played no part in discussions or decisions about the company. If there was anything I left the room,’ she told iomtoday.

The commissioned cleaning service, which was available to people eligible for income support, will not continue when the contract with the current provider expires in January.

This is the only contract Manx Home Care has with the DHSC.

Some 122 people currently receive a cleaning service, which generally provides up to one hour of household cleaning per week.

The DHSC said all people in receipt of the service will be contacted over the next six weeks to assess whether their needs have become more complex and whether a further assessment for social care support is needed.

Member for the department Ann Corlett MHK, said: ’I want to make it absolutely clear that despite this particular service coming to an end, everyone who receives help with cleaning will, where necessary, have their needs reassessed and be fully supported through the transition.

’Through reassessment, our social care professionals will determine the level of need of each service user and, in line with existing eligibility criteria, ensure they receive the support they require to stay in their own homes and maintain their independence for as long as possible."

Health chiefs said the decision to end provision of the service is part of ongoing efforts to reduce the DHSC’s expenditure which has exceeded its allocated budget for two years running, requiring extra funding from Tynwald totalling £20m.

The service was first commissioned in 2003. Manx Home Care successfully tendered for the contract in a competitive procurement exercise in 2013.

Mrs Corlett added: "The scale of the financial challenge facing the DHSC means that difficult decisions are having to be taken.

’Whilst this specific service will come to an end, the department’s Home Care Service will continue to operate as normal, supporting government’s ambition of helping people to stay in their own homes and live independently for as long as possible.’

The Tynwald members’ register of interests show Mrs Beecroft is director of Manx Cleaners, trading at Manx Home Care.

Latest government audited accounts show that Manx Home Care was paid £127,000 for services supplied in 2016-17.