Our Worthing Borough Councillors have written a letter to the Worthing based West Sussex Councillors protesting the proposed £6 million of cuts to the Supporting People Fund.

Worthing Labour Group 

Worthing Town Hall

BN11 1HA

Friday 14^th September 2018

Cllr Noel Atkins 

Cllr Michael Cloake 

Cllr Paul High 

Cllr Roger Oakley 

Cllr Bob Smytherman 

Cllr Bryan Turner 

Cllr Steve Waight 

West Sussex County Council County Hall, 

Chichester

PO19 1RQ

Dear Worthing County Councillors,

We are writing to ask what your plans are to ensure that the proposed £6 million cuts to the Supporting People fund does not go ahead. As I am sure you are aware, Worthing is relatively deprived compared with West Sussex as a whole and will be one of the places most adversely affected by these cuts. Information taken from the Community profile 2016 shows that two Worthing wards (Central and Heene) are among the 10 most deprived wards in West Sussex.

Organisations in Worthing affected by the proposed cuts include: 

Worthing Churches Homeless Project

Safe in Sussex

The Local Assistance network

Southdown Housing

The Independent Living Scheme 

YMCA Downslink 

WCHP alone may lose 53 high support beds which are needed to accommodate  some of the most vulnerable people in our community

The cuts fly in the face of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 which imposed new duties to prevent and relieve homelessness. If cuts go ahead, the local Council will be unable to fulfil its legal duty.

The proposed cuts do not make  economic sense, either to the individuals affected or to wider services. The cost of supported housing is relatively small compared to costs that could result from increased homelessness, particularly costs to the NHS and criminal justice system.  Research shows that resolving homelessness always costs less public money than allowing homelessness to become sustained or repeated.

We are sure that you will agree that these cuts do not make sense for our town and Borough, and that we need to support people not cuts. 

We look forward to your response on this matter

Yours Sincerely

Dr Rebecca Cooper

Mike Barrett 

Margaret Howard

Rich Mulholland

Cc: Louise Goldsmith, Leader of West Sussex County Council