Survey reveals councils' fears for vulnerable

Almost nine in ten councils have acknowledged that cutting their housing related support will put vulnerable people at risk, according to a survey.

A report from the Local Government Information Unit and housing association Circle surveyed 139 councils about their Supporting People services. 87.7 per cent of respondents said that reducing the availability of housing related support ‘will put vulnerable people at risk’.
Nine in ten respondents said that reducing the availability of housing related support ‘will create more costs elsewhere in the system’.
The ringfence on Supporting People was removed in 2009 by the then Labour government. In October’s spending review, chancellor George Osborne said the budget would be reduced by 11.5 per cent, to £6 billion until 2014/15.
Because there is no ringfence on the money, councils are free to raid it to support other services. More than half of the local authorities surveyed had cut their Supporting People budgets by more than 25 per cent.