Council bosses have defended changes to its emergency alarm service used by the elderly and vulnerable, believing it is vital to ensure its users are kept safe.
Great Yarmouth Borough Council cabinet members voted to bring forward plans to close its in-house Alarm Receiving Centre and switch the service to a private provider within months rather than by 2025.
It comes as officers say critical staffing shortages mean there is a high risk that the service could fail in the future, putting people's lives in danger.
The plans have led to a row between members, with critics arguing not enough has been done to recruit employees - the last time a job was advertised was in March 2023.
READ MORE: Deepening row sees council accused of 'mismanagement' of vital lifeline
At a meeting on Thursday, the council's chief executive Shiela Oxtoby said: "If anything were to happen, I do not want it to be on my head. It is right to bring this in as an emergency."
The move will mean the service will be undertaken by Careline 365, a national company based in Norwich.
It was expected the change would happen by 2025, ahead of the digitalisation of phone services, but difficulties recruiting and keeping staff have meant officers felt it had to be done urgently.
Officers said attempts to recruit staff now would mean the service would be running at a high risk for several months while new staff are trained for the skilled role.
Cabinet member Graham Plant said: "This is the quickest solution to the problem and it would be irresponsible to not go ahead with it."
Council bosses also explained that the service was not sustainable financially and was running at a substantial loss, costing around £200,000 in subsidies a year.
Councillor Paul Wells said: "It is clear the service is not sustainable, you can't escape the maths.
"We need to ensure we provide the provision people need."
Officers offered reassurance that the switch to Careline 365 had been thoroughly considered and that it was of the "utmost importance" that the change was made to avoid putting lives at risk.
The matter was called back for more scrutiny in the new year with the final decision to be made in January.
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