Supporting People keeps ring-fenced funding

The government has promised to protect the ring-fenced status of the Supporting People programme.

Local government minister Phil Woolas told a National Housing Federation confederation conference on Tuesday that the programme was “ring-fenced for a reason” and “we won’t betray vulnerable people”.

The idea of merging the programme with general local authority funding had been floated in last year’s draft Supporting People strategy but had prompted complaints from providers who felt unpopular groups would lose out.

In its preliminary response to the strategy consultation, the Department for Communities and Local Government this week recommended that projects to tackle antisocial behaviour be developed as part of the Supporting People programme.

The department said it would work with local authorities to develop services for the most disadvantaged, “including those whose behaviour is causing problems in their community”.

The DCLG response, which was published ahead of a full strategy expected in the autumn, made no decision on the controversial funding distribution formula, which calculates how much each local authority gets.