Left out in the cold

Last night saw Cllr Stuart Barker, cabinet member for Social Care from Conservative-led Devon County Council attending the Community Scrutiny Committee of Exeter City Council to try to justify the County Council's reduction in funding to the Supporting People budget.

Supporting People is a funding stream that was introduced under Labour in 2003, to enable those people with additional support needs to live stable, independent lives in their own accommodation, in their own communities. Beneficiaries typically include some of our most vulnerable populations: people with physical and sensory disabilities, older people, people with a lived experience of mental ill-health, people with a history of addiction, rough sleepers, and the victims of domestic violence. Supporting People as a strategy acknowledges that to support people with such complex needs in the community is more cost-effective and less resource-intensive than accommodating them in residential centres, or simply leaving them to fail, and need more acute care and attention through the NHS, criminal justice or intensive social care services. Perhaps more importantly, it allows individuals to live independently and with dignity, and to play a full part in their communities.

Cllr Stuart Barker

Cllr Barker was called to the all-party committee by a unanimous vote when it met in November, and members expressed concern that local accommodation providers were reporting cuts to over 200 bed spaces in the city. (See here) As somebody that works in Exeter's  community sector and with considerable experience of working with homeless people, I attended the meeting to see how this apparent slashing of Exeter's provision was explained.

Cllr Barker explained that any reduction the County Council was making was "based on evidence". The fund had been reduced by 40% he said, but this was against an apparent reduction in rough sleeping and homelessness in the city of 47%. He went on to say that the County Council was seeking to use funds in a different way, setting up a service described as a "trusted assessor." Anybody that was believed to possibly be in need of a supported service would be assessed, and their package of care would be based individually on that assessment, rather than simply funding on-going services. Parallel accommodation could then be "spot purchased" as and when needed, rather than funding services constantly. "The number of people we will be supporting," said Cllr Barker, "will be the same."

This may sound reasonable, but it is all smoke and mirrors. 


The subsequent cross-examination of Cllr Barker's statement came primarily from your Labour city councillors.


Portfolio holder for Housing at ECC, Cllr Rob Hannaford expressed profound concern that Devon County Council should be paying significant sums into its reserves this year at a time when it was cutting services so deeply. I can't help but wonder whether DCC are front-loading cuts now, and squirrelling away funds so that next year (coincidentally an election year for the County Council!) the mostly Conservative members can go to the electorate's doorsteps with good news.


Cllr Margaret Clark (herself a former Social Worker and Housing Manager) set out some of the impacts of the cuts and changes in Supporting People spending strategy. The Bridge Project (a project for rough sleepers) had closed, a loss of 14 supported housing units. The YMCA had lost 8 units. Gabriel House, a project that works with rough sleepers and those with addictions had closed 10 units, and lost 5 members of support staff. The Shilhay Community, a charity that manages Exeter's Street Homeless Outreach Team, has reduced its staff, losing 5 support workers. Both the YMCA and Shilhay reported that there had been no consultation about changes. The Amber Project, a centre in mid Devon that receives referrals from Exeter, has reduced from 22 supported units to just 1, provided on a spot-purchasing basis.


"I don't understand those organisations..." was Cllr Barker's response. (Almost certainly true, but possibly not for the reasons he said it.) He went on to explain that the county council wanted to base interventions on "assessed need", as part of individual care plans that helped people move on as part of recovery plans. For that reason, he said, spot purchasing was felt to be a more cost effective option.


Spot purchasing creates an "as-and-when" commissioning climate. Service providers, many of them voluntary or not-for-profit organisations, are unable to strategically plan service provision and - critically - plan staffing levels. This means less full-time, experienced and qualified staff on the front line, and more reliance on short-term, casual staff. In working with people with complex, long-term needs the ability to build and maintain a therapeutic relationship is vital. A casual workforce is less able to do that.


Cllr Richard Branston added casualties to Cllr Clark's list. He had spoken to the Operations Manager of Westcountry Housing who had made 6 redundancies in its project worker staff. "Social support in Exeter is being dismantled," the manager had told Cllr Branston, before going on to say that soon Westcountry Housing would only be able to offer accommodation to people in work.


Cllr Barker repeated that the number of people offered support would not drop, and anyway that there had been a fall in the numbers of people presenting as homeless. I would like to question the validity of this response. It is easy to say the number of people supported will remain the same. This is simply the number of people offered a service. It does not address the intensity, quality or level of that support. If - as we have seen - the number of support staff delivering a service has fallen, but the number of people that receive services is maintained, then presumably caseloads for workers must rise. This can only mean that the amount of contact time - and therefore support- that each individual receives is reduced. When a service is stretched to capacity, and the word-of-mouth reports are that the service is over-stretched and unable to meet needs, it is reasonable to expect the number of people referring to that service to drop. This is not because they do not have a need, it is because they see no point in pursuing support when they are told that in all probability the service will be unable to help them. 


I would question Cllr Barker's assertion that homelessness has fallen simply because presentations have fallen. Cllr Branston stated that over 70 under-18s had been referred to bed & breakfast provision in the past 3 months alone, a significant rise. B&B is an appalling, and expensive, response to the needs of such a vulnerable group. Furthermore voices such as Crisis, Shelter and even Eric Pickles (!) have predicted that forthcoming welfare reform will see an increase in homelessness. Yet against this backdrop the Conservative County Council still insists on reducing provision. it is worth noting that it is not only cuts to housing provision that is critical here. So-called "wraparound" services that teach life skills, employability skills, and basic personal care have also been cut, as have mental health services and addiction services.

Cllr Tony Wardle pressed Cllr Barker on the creation of the "trusted assessor" service he had referred to earlier. He asked who would deliver this service, given that staff within agencies were losing their jobs, and the County Council itself was facing redundancies and reorganisation. Cllr Barker said he "was not certain" at this stage, things were "still being sorted out." It would be commissioned, he said, through joint arrangements between the local authorities and the NHS, but this was not finalised yet. 


"Is the assessment process and assessment toolkit developed yet?"  he was asked. No, came the response, this too was yet to be finalised.


So there you have it. While all serious predictions are of rising homelessness, Tory-controlled Devon County Council are choosing to reduce Exeter's provision while boosting their own reserves, a move they justify by saying they will "support the same numbers of people" - with less staff - based on "assessed need." 


Only they don't know what that assessment will look like yet. 


Or who will do it.




(And for my Pinhoe readers, you may be interested to know that your Conservative Councillor, Cllr Cynthia Thompson, was in attendance. Her contribution to this important debate, like her city council Tory  colleagues, was... well, nothing at all. Complete silence.)


If you see a vulnerable person rough-sleeping you can contact Exeter's Street Homeless Outreach Team on 01392 208294