West Sussex County Council has issued proposals which, if acted upon, would abolish the council’s ‘Supporting People’ fund. This fund is currently worth £6million and makes a significant contribution to the running of housing-related support services provided by voluntary organisations across the county.
The funding used to be provided by the county council through a ring-fenced government grant which was taken away entirely by the coalition government in 2011. Since then the county council has continued to fund services from its base budget but it is not a statutory obligation required of them by government.
Local charities’ concerns have been widely reported in the local press. These include that street homelessness and housing poverty will increase, and often the costs of this will simply be shunted to other public bodies like the police and NHS. Charities potentially affected include:
- Crawley Open House
- Worthing Churches Homelessness Project
- Bognor Housing Trust
- Stonepillow
- Safe in Sussex Home Group
- Crawley Foyer
- Quick Access Beds for Youth Homelessness
- Southdown Independent Living Scheme
- YMCA Downslink.
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Protests
There are protests planned for two key council meetings that will affect the decision on whether to implement these cuts. All members and their families are welcome to attend. If you are scheduled to work on these days, you must ask permission from your manager to attend, or use annual leave to do so.
Health and Adult Scrutiny Committee
Thursday 27 September
Assemble outside County Hall, Chichester, PO19 1RQ at 9.45am
Full Council
Friday 19 October
Assemble outside County Hall, Chichester, PO19 1RQ at 9.45am