Supported housing providers have warned councils are increasingly expecting them to use volunteers in an effort to drive down costs.
Organisations say over the past year commissioners have approached them to discuss how volunteers can be part of their bids for Supporting People funding. Providers have warned that volunteers are not adequately qualified to take over the role of paid professionals in dealing with people with support needs.
Jake Eliot, policy leader at the National Housing Federation, said members had reported this happening in London, the midlands and Yorkshire. He added feedback showed that local authorities were ‘considering the use of volunteers’ to deliver the contracted hours of the core services rather than value-added extra services.
Supporting People funding to English councils has been cut since it started as a £1.8 billion ring-fenced grant in 2003 to £1.64 billion in 2010/11 and £1.59 billion in 2014/15. The funding has not been ring-fenced since 2009 – with the result that councils have further cut budgets.
Homeless Link’s annual Survey of Needs and Provision report of 500 homelessness services in England, published in April, found that since 2011 there has been a 16 per cent reduction in the number of full-time staff as a result of the cuts.