Unfair treatment
Supporting People is one of the grants that will be rolled up into the general pool
of money that councils have from April of this year. It was very
important in helping many people with learning disabilities get a home of
their own and the support that they needed to live in it. As many as
7,000 people with learning disabilities were getting help through this.
However, the last three years have seen some councils receiving less
Supporting People grant while things were evened up across the
country. Some voluntary organisations were told they had to reduce
their prices or stop doing business. Others had the total money they
received reduced by a percentage.
At first it seemed that this was done fairly across the board. The
Learning Disability Alliance wrote to the councils that had made
most cuts. We asked them how much they had changed the
Supporting People money they gave to Housing Associations,
Voluntary Organisations and what they used for their own Social
Work services. We were very surprised by the results.
Argyle and Bute Council had reduced the money they gave to
Housing Associations and voluntary organisations by twice as much
as they reduced what they spent on their own services. South
Lanarkshire and Edinburgh Councils did almost exactly the same.
Aberdeenshire was the most surprising of all. It had reduced its supporting
people grant to Housing Associations and voluntary
organisations by over a third, a huge cut. At the same time it
had increased its spending on social work services by almost
the same amount of money it had taken away from the voluntary sector.
As we describe in the previous article, people who use services are being
denied choice in who provides these services. It also seems some local
authorities are unfairly targeting voluntary sector providing organisations to take
the brunt of spending cuts, and in some cases to fund more local authority
services.
ALLIANCE NEWS
This an extract from our regular newsletter which covers issues of importance to everyone with a learning disability or those working with or caring for them in Soctland.
If you would like a full copy of our latest newletter then please get in touch with your contact details or download below.
Newsletter January 2008 easy read
New Format Audio Visual Newsletter February 2007
New Format Audio Visual Newsletter December 2006
New Format Easy Read NewsletterDecember 2006
Special Newsletter on day services
Full paper on Employment Policy from the Action Group
