Mike joined the charity as Chief Executive in 1999 and since then has overseen an expansion of services from Canterbury to across Kent. He is actively involved in the supported housing sector and Chairs both the East Kent Homelessness Forum and the Executive Board of Providers. Email Mike
Protection, dignity and choice – it’s not much to ask
Blog entry February 2010
People who read or hear about the work of charities like Porchlight are also usually aware that the services we deliver are totally dependent of a number of factors. Factors such as high quality trained staff; good quality accommodation; strong and transparent governance structures and a highly motivated qualified and experienced management teams.
Why am I stating this? Simply because we are all being exercised by what is potentially a devastating decision by our major funder not to give an inflationary uplift for 2010/11. Yes we are part of the now firmly embedded contract culture, which this government worked hard to bring about and as such we are rightly accountable for the public money we receive to help people break the cycles of homelessness, poverty and social exclusion.
But surely if we are expected to behave and act as responsible charities and thereby “businesses” we must be allowed to plan strategically and be part of the overall planning of services. It is too easy to sound cynical and say that this is all about cost savings; in reality this decision if it goes ahead, will not save money. This is because we are all operating on costs based on 2006/07 pricing mechanisms and since we have had less than inflationary uplifts over the past several years any new providers coming into this “market” will need to inflate costs in order to provide a half decent service. The organisations that are currently delivering services are already stretched, but at least we are “market aware” and are constantly adjusting our plans to reduce costs where possible in order to mitigate the effects on front line services. The overall effect of cuts to budgets over the past five to six years has seen costs rise by between 30-40%. There is no way on this earth that our funding has increased by this much.
We are told of course that the recession is to blame and the inescapable fact is that we as a country are in a dire position in relation to our public finances. But why is it always the poorest, the most vulnerable and the most silent that take the brunt of continuous fiscal pressures?
Our service users don’t actually ask for much, only protection, dignity and choice. But how can their pleas be heard above the din of great public bodies stating the blindingly obvious, “the credit crunch got us into this mess”? The poorest in our society certainly didn’t create the mess; the wealthy and educated classes brought us to this point. However, it is the homeless and vulnerable who will pay the price if the next government wields the knife in the direction of homeless charities and Supporting People budgets.
