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Cash-strapped housing associations are replacing weekly home support visits with drop-in surgeries to bridge the widening gap between costs and Supporting People income.
The move away from home visits was one of several cost-cutting measures reported to the National Housing Federation in a survey which reveals the effect of tightening Supporting People purse strings on providers.
The findings show that increases to Supporting People contract prices are trailing behind inflation. Providers fear that the tough economic climate will make it ‘increasingly difficult to justify propping up services where Supporting People income does not cover the costs of providing them’, a summary report says.
The federation also warned that the future funding of housing support services is at risk. Its survey suggests that the majority of contracts will expire by April 2009, when the government plans to remove the ‘ring fence’ that prevents Supporting People funding being channelled by councils to other services.
‘It was expected that providers would be on two to three-year “steady state” contracts [by April], which would provide some protection against funding being diverted from housing-related support to other local authority activities,’ the summary says. But it adds that there were signs of reluctance from authorities to re-issue contracts and ‘tie up the money’.
The federation’s concern has prompted it to press the government to protect Supporting People funding from next April, by paying it to councils as a separate grant.
Helen Williams, assistant director for neighbourhoods at the NHF, said: ‘If the ring fence comes off, there’s a real concern about what that means for vulnerable people in terms of ongoing support.
’Kevin Beirne, group director of One Support, One Housing Group’s care and support arm, said: ‘We as a sector have been at the cutting edge of efficiency.
‘But to deliver any more reductions in contract prices would require a fundamental change in the way support is delivered.’