Care charity MHA warns against cutting Hampshire County Council grants

PROPOSALS to slash community grant funding will have a major impact on the lives of elderly people in Hampshire, a care provider has warned.

MHA, a UK charitable provider, has warned that Hampshire County Council’s plans to cut the adult social care budget will force them to reduce services to pensioners, writes David George of the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

HCC is planning to cut £680,000, with the neighbourhood care and support, community based support and rural connections grants all under threat.

The cuts are currently going through a public consultation, as reported in the A&T.

Sam Monaghan, chief executive of MHA, believed that the impact of the cuts would be significant.

He said: "The services and activities we provide are designed to improve mental, physical, and social wellbeing from physical exercise to social activities.

"We know that our services are vital for the people that they support. Over the past year, our community services in Hampshire helped over 2,300 local people – through befriending services, exercise groups and food deliveries.

"Throughout the Covid-19 lockdowns, many of these services provided a critical lifeline to older people throughout the pandemic."

According to MHA, these services also help to delay older people accessing further care from HCC and health services, in turn saving public money.

The grants the council is proposing to cut to go to voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations across Hampshire to support adults living independently.

Cllr Liz Fairhurst, cabinet member for adult services and public health, said: "Finding additional savings across adult social care is extremely challenging, and while significant work continues to transform services and find more efficient ways of doing things, we have additionally had to take the very difficult decision to review some services that we have no legal obligation to provide.

"This is not something we do easily or lightly but, should any or all of the proposals be taken forward, we would prioritise working with partner organisations to help minimise the impact of any changes.

"In the case of community grants, this would involve supporting local organisations to secure alternative methods of funding, improve the co-ordination of grant applications, as well as introducing proactive initiatives to help increase the number of volunteers coming forward."

The consultation will run until Monday 21st March. Visit hants.gov.uk/AHC-consultation