Westminster Council has pledged to maintain service provision for street drug addicts, despite anticipated cuts in its Supporting People budget, writes Shirley Kumar.

Westminster and Camden Councils’ new “Killing with Kindness” campaign, which urges people not to give money to beggars, was launched just weeks before allocations from the Supporting People pot for 2005/6 were due to be confirmed by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Although some authorities fear there will be cuts in funding, Westminster said it had £40 million in reserve to make up for any shortfall.

A majority of drug treatment services catering for the beggars, who include rough sleepers and those residing in homeless hostels, are funded under the Supporting People budget.

Westminster research showed that around 85 per cent of up to 400 beggars have a hard drug habit. It also found many were coming in to beg from other London boroughs.

The campaign wants to inform the public about how else they can help the homeless and argues that giving to beggars was cruel because it gave them no incentives to access treatment programmes.

“We are concerned with cuts to the Supporting People budget but we will find the money to maintain services for those with a connection to Westminster because it is a priority,” confirmed deputy leader Kit Malthouse. He said the council already had £40m in reserves.

However, a cut in budget could mean a reduction in expensive services such as specialist care and 24-hour supervision hostels, warn charities.

Turning Point spokesperson said: “Councils need to make sure they are backing any enforcement by funding service provision.”

Thames Reach Bondway (TRB) out reach services manager Petra Salva said service provision was patchy across London. “When councils take a hard line the services need to be in place. That is not the case across all boroughs.” TRB was commissioned to undertake street outreach work for Westminster council.