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Welsh Supporting People shake-up ‘creates uncertainty and lacks direction’
Changes to the Welsh Government’s Supporting People programme risk “letting down vulnerable and elderly people”, a cross-party group of Welsh Assembly members (AMs) has warned.
A report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has said the new system is confusing and creates uncertainty for the organisations tasked with its delivery.
Supporting People is a £125m grant scheme which sees local authorities given cash to fund housing-related support services for people vulnerable to becoming homeless, as well as older and disabled people.
The Welsh Government intends to merge the programme with other poverty-preventing schemes to form an ‘Early Intervention, Prevention and Support Grant’.
Some service providers have raised fears the move will increase the likelihood of cuts to funding in the future.
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The committee said it “could find little evidence to support why this was necessary or why it was better than the existing funding regime”.
And it said service providers “were left feeling like they’d been kept in the dark” by the announcement – made via draft budget documents published in October.
“It is clear that after some 14 years in existence there remained a number of significant shortcomings with the governance and management of the Supporting People programme,” said Nick Ramsay, chair of the PAC and Conservative AM for Monmouth.
“While we recognise that there may be scope to better integrate grant programmes to achieve better outcomes, we have serious reservations about the way the proposals for the new integrated grant were developed and announced in the fine detail of the Welsh Government’s budget proposals.
“The Welsh Government needs to do more to demonstrate the evidence base for its proposals and to test the arrangements through robust evaluation of the flexible funding pilot projects that are now underway before deciding on the scope of any new grant and the timetable for its implementation.”
The Welsh Government claims that Supporting People helps 57,000 people a year, 37,000 of whom are elderly – though the PAC said it was unable to find out how successful the programme has been.
The committee recommended that ministers publish revised guidance providing clarity on the programme, and “pause and reflect” on the decision to integrate the grants.
And it said the Welsh Government should consider extending the seven ‘flexible funding’ pilot projects before full rollout.
“We warmly welcome the recommendations laid out by the Public Accounts Committee,” said Will Atkinson, policy and programmes manager at Community Housing Cymru.
“We are particularly pleased to see the recommendation for Welsh Government to reconsider its plans for an integrated funding stream.
“We call on Welsh Government to solely integrate Supporting People with grants that will enhance the provision of services such as housing and homelessness-related support grants.”
A spokesperson for the Welsh Government said: “We are committed to ensuring that vulnerable people are supported to access good-quality housing and help them maintain their tenancies.
“The Supporting People programme plays an important part in helping us achieve that aim.”
