Parents of Nascot Lawn rallied again this afternoon to fight for their severely disabled children, concerned that the decision is unlawful.

The centre which provides respite for children with high medical need is in danger of shutting down in attempt for Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group to save money.

The medical group, which puts £600,000 towards the service has been charged with saving £45 million by NHS England this year.

Next Thursday the fate of the centre will be decided at a CCG board meeting, where they will decide whether to cut funding altogether and shut down the service or to provide money for the centre, either entirely or with the help of Hertfordshire County Council.

Mother Satnam Kaur said: “We are still really concerned that this is a completely unlawful consultation process.

“Every single member of staff that has left says that they have been forced to leave.

“We are back in the same situation as if the decision had been made on November 2, as we have not been able to give our opinions on the public consultation.

“This is because the CCG do not know how much it will cost to provide care for each child when the centre is closed, so Hertfordshire County Council cannot present them with a model because they do not know how much it will cost.

“The CCG made a big hoo-hah about completing the assessments, but when they were completed, it was a tick-box exercise, not a detailed breakdown of each child’s needs. In some cases the assessor left early.

“Assessments have been rushed, the decision will be rushed, and it has already put enormous strain on families that live children with severe disability and life-limiting illnesses.”

Mother Angelina Murphy said: “When they made this decision they did not expect to be dealing with this.

“But all we know is how to fight for our children because that is what we have always had to do.”

Since the announcement in June, almost all of the existing employees at Nascot Lawn, some of whom had worked there for 30 years, have got new jobs because of the uncertainty.

The CCG have had to advertise for new people even employing some of the former colleagues to work as bank staff to deal with demand.

All children have had reduced hours at the centre, which is still meant to be operating as normal until January at least, and families are bearing the strain.

Cllr Nigel Bell of the Labour Party and shadow councillor for children’s services on the county council has been supporting the families since the decision and is calling on MPs to make their voices heard.

He said: “This so-called public engagement is amazing to me, and it shows that they keep telling parents different things.

“I just hope that they can row back a bit coming up to the decision on Thursday and listen to the parents and campaigners who have worked had to defend the service.”