Don't stop Supporting People in Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) took a decision to set and announce its budget proposals before the government confirmed, through the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), how much money Local Authorities (LAs) will receive over the next four years.

NCC has proposed to cut funding to voluntary and community organisations funded through the Supporting People (SP) programme by almost 50 to 70%. The government has since confirmed that it will only be reducing the SP grant to LAs by 12.5% over the next four years.

The Government has made a specific commitment to ‘relatively protect’ funding for SP services, when it announced the outcome of the CSR, in recognition of the important role they have in helping the most vulnerable and marginalised people in our communities to live independently. It has also been accepted that investing in these services saves money in other areas of public spending, such as health, social care and criminal justice. The government’s own research shows that for every £1 invested in SP services, a minimum of £2.50 is saved in other areas of public spending.

When asked in the House of Commons about cuts to voluntary and community groups in another area of country, David Cameron said:

“We should say to every single council in the country: When it comes to looking at and trimming your budgets, don't do the easy thing, which is to cut money to the voluntary bodies and organisations working in our communities. Look at your core costs. Look at how you can do more for less. Look at the value for money you get from working with the voluntary sector”.

In his CSR statement to the House of Commons, the Chancellor George Osborne stated:

“Tackling this budget deficit is unavoidable. The decisions about how we do it are not. There are choices… Fairness means creating a welfare system that helps the vulnerable…We will relatively protect… the Supporting People programme that provides help for thousands of the most vulnerable people in our communities”.

Following the CSR announcement, Grant Shapps the Minister for Housing and Local Government wrote to all of the Leaders of Local Authorities stating:

“I am proud that reductions to the Supporting People programme have been minimised. This reflects the Government’s commitment to tacking homelessness and to protecting the most vulnerable groups in society”

If NCC goes ahead with its proposal to reduce spending on SP services by the amounts proposed, thousands of vulnerable people in Nottinghamshire will be left without support and hundreds of local jobs will be lost.

Cuts on this level are simply unfair.