Councillors meet to discuss social service cuts

RUSHMOOR Borough Council members will meet to discuss the potential effects of Hampshire County Council’s decision to reduce funding to support vulnerable people in the county.

Councillors and officers will hold an internal meeting in the coming weeks, before meeting again with providers, to consider the implications the county council’s Supporting People budget being reduced by £7.66 million to £17.4 million. The funding is for the elderly, disabled and socially excluded.

The county’s executive member for adult social care and public health was due to approve the recommendation yesterday, which is backed by a report outlining cuts totalling £1,498,152 in Hart and Rushmoor.

These include contracts such as Aldershot charity Step by Step’s supported accommodation and 14 older people’s services in Rushmoor and Hart coming to an end next year, and funding for alarm chords in supported accommodation being withdrawn in September.

Funding for Mike Jackson House, supported accommodation for homeless war veterans in Aldershot, was described as ‘not sustainable’ but no reductions will be made immediately to allow time for alternative funding.

Nearly 200 people in Rushmoor and Hart responded to a county council survey on the proposals, some of whom said they relied heavily on the support to live independently.

Councillor Mike Roberts, who called for the Rushmoor meeting, described the cuts as 'even worse than were possibly led to believe’.