Isle of Wight Council acting with "naive incompetence" over cuts

Plan to cut Supporting People budget purely an accounting measure; council made no consideration of human factors and the risk this presents to lives on the Island.

The Isle of Wight Council is facing fierce criticism from the housing and support sector after slashing their budget in half for support for the most vulnerable people on the island. A council cabinet meeting is being held tonight to discuss the proposed cuts. The money is provided by central government as part of the Supporting People programme, and until recently has been ring fenced to ensure that Councils did not siphon off the funds into other areas. Isle of Wight Council was one of the last local authorities to have these restrictions removed. Steve Beynon, Chief Executive of the Council claims that the money has not been cut, but diverted into a new programme for adult social care. Island providers of services hit back at these claims as misleading, and suggest that they show ignorance at the real human and economic value of skilled preventative support. Whilst apparently transferring this money to adult social care, the eligibility criteria for receiving it have been made significantly stricter, and preventative support has been cut so dramatically that the future will hold nothing but more vulnerable people living on the streets and spiralling costs for the council. ROCC Chief Executive Nichola Goom has been working with Island organisations to help them come to terms with the impact of this dreadful news on the people they support: “The council don’t seem to understand the difference between care and support. In the last year, nearly 3000 vulnerable people were given preventative support which allowed them to lead independent and productive lives, and avoid expensive residential care. We’re not aware of any other council taking similar measures, because they can see the sense in investing in preventative services – for example for a person with mental health problems; support costs just £53 per week. Higher level residential care could cost up to £500 per week. Factor this against all client groups and preventative support could therefore lead to savings of £15 million across the island.” Goom explains that housing and support providers are aware of the need to make budget cuts in the current climate, but ask that the Isle of Wight council follow the example of other councils and carry out a considered, professional review which looks at both the costs and the value of service provision. Furthermore, the providers are querying a consistent underspend on the part of the Isle of Wight council regarding funds allocated by the Supporting Programme stretching back to 2004. The cumulative total of this money is some £1.9 million - more than enough to extend current services while a strategic review is undertaken - but the council appears unable to answer questions on where this money has gone." Paddy Noctor, a founder of one of these support services stated: “This was an ill-judged move by Isle of Wight Council, who seem to have made this decision at the first opportunity without any considered review of what is needed on the Island or of what the impact will be . We keep asking the council, what do we tell the 250 highly trained and dedicated staff who work on the island who are about to lose their jobs? And we know what these staff will ask us – What do we tell all those vulnerable clients at risk of homelessness or with learning disabilities, mental health issues or trying to escape from domestic violence who rely on our support - That the council doesn’t think they are vulnerable or poor enough to need our help?” Ends NOTES TO EDITORS: Further information, including statistics and costs as well as case studies and expert comment and opportunities for interviews is available on request. Please contact Zoë Mitchell at Logical Creative Marketing on 0845 345 6969 or email zoe@lcm.co.uk IMPACT OF CUTS Domestic Violence • Women and children escaping domestic violence will have their safety compromised as their support is withdrawn Learning Difficulties • People with a learning disability are the biggest losers. This vulnerable group of people will have no support. Three things will happen: they will have to return home to live with parents, many of whom are elderly and could not cope with their care; they will end up in residential care which can be over £1k per person per week as no other services are available or they will become homeless. Mental Health • People with mental ill health who receive support to help their recovery will lose that support. When they become ill they are more likely to reach a crisis situation and require hospital admission. Preventative care and support for a mental health client costs just £53 per week. Residential care will cost nearly £500 per week. Older People • Older People want to remain in their own homes for as long as possible. Withdrawing support that enables people to live independently will put more pressure on families and lead to more people entering expensive residential care. Education • People will not get the support they need to enter employment leading to higher levels of entrenched unemployment on the Island. Drug & Alcohol • Now all that support will have gone and in addition less people will be able to access the hostels leading to more homeless people using drugs and alcohol on the streets of the Island. This will probably lead to a rise in offending rates on the Island. Private Rented • People currently living in the rented sector who have support as part of their tenancy will no longer have that support and may become homeless leading to more pressure on IOW Housing Hostels • The hostels will get silted up with people as there will be on where for people to move on to. • As access to hostels is denied because they are full more people will be homeless leading to pressure on the IOW Housing Department. CASE STUDY: THE VALUE OF PREVENTATIVE CARE Client A is an ex-offender who was referred to one of the providers as homeless by the probation service. The specialist team supported him to access accommodation via a private landlord and began to work on a range of support activities over the coming months. The outcome is that he has stopped offending, has managed to maintain his accommodation and has been supported to apply to and get accepted into the armed forces and is due to join the army in the next few weeks. What would have happened if he hadn’t been referred to the care team? As he was street homeless, had a history of offending and couldn’t see a way out of the cycle he was in it is extremely likely that that he would have had to resort to more crime to feed himself and have a roof over his head and would have probably ended up going back to prison at approx £767 per week to the taxpayer. This young man, rather than being a drain on public funds, will be fighting for queen and country in the near future.

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