News / Adult Social Care
Cuts to vital social care support criticised
Bristol City Council will cut a fifth of the budget for preventative services that help people stay independent with one social care firm boss warning that the upcoming cuts could have fatal consequences.
Tenants in sheltered housing who are supported by the Help When You Need It service pleaded with the adult social care policy committee not to cut the budget.
The service prevents people from becoming homeless, going to hospital or needing extensive care.
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Bristol spends £3.8m a year on preventative services, including the Home Improvement Agency and Help When You Need It.
About £500,000 will be cut from their budgets next year as the council tries to fill a £52m funding gap.
Michelle Richards, housing services director of Brunelcare, manages the Help When You Need It service for people living in sheltered housing, and urged councillors not to support the cuts, as they would impact both tenants and the wider healthcare system in Bristol with extra costs.
She said: “Without this support, many of our tenants would revert to accessing support from other council services, creating additional pressure and costs to the wider system.
“Currently our system is very proactive. We know our tenants. Our support workers are very responsive: a tenant could call them today and they will be there tomorrow.”
Brunelcare also holds another contract, to provide support to people living elsewhere. As part of the cuts, the council will extend this community support.
But existing community support services have a long waiting list before people can receive help.
Tenants living in sheltered housing also spoke to councillors before the vote, urging them not to cut their vital support.
As part of the changes, the budget for community support will increase.
This means the support will be based on people’s needs, rather than if they live in specific sheltered housing, but only provided for a limited time.
The council had also considered cutting support for people with HIV, but decided to extend this support for another year.
The council does not have to provide these services by law, unlike the majority of services provided by the social care department. Even though they represent a small fraction of the department’s budget, that means they are easier to cut.
The four Green councillors on the social care committee voted in favour of the cuts to the Help When You Need It contracts, while the remaining four councillors on the committee voted against.
Lib Dem councillor Jos Clark left the meeting halfway through, after criticising the cuts but before voting on them.
As the vote was tied, the social care committee chair, Green councillor Lorraine Francis, was able to use her casting vote in favour of the cuts.
Green councillor Lorraine Francis (right) is chair of the social care committee at City Hall – photo: Rob Browne
The decision to find savings in adult social care was taken by the former Labour administration earlier this year, before the Greens won the recent local elections.
The committee was warned by council bosses that if preventative services were not cut, then other budgets elsewhere would be.
Francis said: “As a committee and a council, we have a responsibility to balance this impact against the failure to set a legal budget.
“If we cannot set a balanced budget, the funding of these local services will be taken out of our hands, and everything that isn’t a statutory requirement will be at risk, including all these services.
“But no one in this council wants to reduce spending on preventative support.
“The Labour government needs to provide more funding to local authorities so we can provide more preventative support to help our most vulnerable residents.”
Labour councillor Kelvin Blake, vice-chair of the committee, successfully tabled an amendment to the changes to the Home Improvement Agency, meaning any cuts will be delayed while the council “co-designs” the new service with staff and residents.
Blake said: “All the Green councillors voted for the cuts, leading to a tie, so the chair used her casting vote to push it through.
“While some of the policies that passed today will cause harm, I’m glad they’ve u-turned on the proposed cut to services for people living with HIV, instead choosing to extend the contract for another year.
“Of all the proposed cuts, that one seemed particularly harsh. It should have never been on the table in the first place.”
Main photo: Mersina Booth
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