Harrow Council Proposals to Reduce

Funding to Local Voluntary Organisations

Harrow Council has started from the end of September 2016 a public consultation about funding cuts and changes for local voluntary sector services. Here is the extract from the proposal document circulated with the meeting papers:

‘About this Consultation

We are consulting on proposals to reduce funding provided to the Voluntary and Community Sector in Harrow, by way of reducing the £799,000 representing the total VCS spend for Adult Social Care by £420,000 through a reduction in the SLAs. The proposal from April 2017 would see the funding from Adult Social Services reduced to statutory funding only. (These Contracts were commissioned as part of the Care Act 2014 implementation programme and total £379,000).

At present, there are 13 organisations receiving £420,000 of funding and 6 organisations receiving funding through the Statutory Care Act funding totalling £379,000. This Statutory Care Act funding supports the Council to meet new responsibilities following the implementation of the Act and provides; Information and Advice, Independent Care Act Advocacy, and Carers Services.’

In relation to Mind in Harrow, the reduction of funding to ‘non-statutory’ services means:

  • £25,0000 cut to the remainder Council funding to Mind in Harrow’s to run our services such as the Mental Health Information Service and
  • £25,000 cut to the Mental Health User Involvement Project

What will Mind in Harrow be doing in response?

1)Asking all mental health service users to complete our specially designed survey to give your views.

2)Holding a HUG Special Forum on Tuesday, 25 October between 1.30-3.30pm at the Bridge Day Centre – TO BE CONFIRMED

3)Encouraging all mental health service users to write to their local Councillor and the Leader of the Council Sachin Shah to view your views – a template letter is available if you want to use this.

Returning the completed survey

Please return the completed survey to

Mind in Harrow,

First Floor,

132-134 College Road,

Harrow HA1 1BQ

Or email to

PLEASE TURN OVER – THANK YOU!

1. Are you a resident of London Borough of Harrow?(please circle)

Yes / No

2. In the past year which services have you accessedat Mind in Harrow?

Please state which service(s)

3. What is relationship to Mind in Harrow? (please circle)

Service User / Carer / Service user & Carer
If Mind in Harrow’s services were cut next year, how would this affect you? / Very
likely / Quite likely / Quite unlikely / Very unlikely
1 / I will be less able to cope where I live and be more at risk of having problems with my living situation.
2 / I will be less able to cope without these services supporting my day-to-day wellbeing.
3 / I will be less able to manage my finances and could have increased debt.
4 / I will be less able to seek work or hold down a job and will rely more on employment benefits.
5 / I will be less able to look after myself and will be reliant on friends, family or partner.
6 / I will need to make more appointments to see my GP or visit A&E for urgent help, if I do not have these other types of support.
Please write any other comments here:

PLEASE TURN OVER – THANK YOU!

If Mind in Harrow’s Mental Health User Involvement Project was cut next year, how would this affect you? / Very
likely / Quite likely / Quite unlikely / Very unlikely
1 / I will be less aware of Council consultations about service changes which affect me.
2 / I feel that Council consultations will be less accessible to me in the future.
3 / I will be less able understand the full implications of Council consultations about service changes which affect me.
4 / I will feel less confidence to respond to Council consultations about service changes which affect me.
5 / I feel that my views will not heard in Council consultations about service changes which affect me
6 / I will have less influence over Council decisions about service changes which affect me.
Please write any other comments here:

PLEASE TURN OVER – THANK YOU!

Please return the completed survey to Mind in Harrow, First Floor, 132-134 College Road, Harrow HA1 1BQ

Anonymous Equalities Monitoring

Please tick as appropriate in the boxes below.

This section will help to make sure that we are reaching a wide a range of people from the community as possible with this survey. Thank you.

Gender

Female
Male
Other

Age

20 and under / 21 – 35 / 36 – 50 / 51 – 65 / 66+

Mental health/disability(Please tick all boxes as apply)

Mental health problems
Autism
Dyslexia
Learning disability
Long-term health conditions
(e.g. cancer / HIV / MS)
Physical disability
Other disability:

Ethnicity

White

British / Irish / Any other White background
 /  / 

Mixed

White and Black Caribbean / White and Black African / White and Asian / Any other Mixed background
 /  /  / 

Asian or Asian British

Indian / Pakistani / Bangladeshi / Any other Asian background
 /  /  / 

Black or Black British

Caribbean / African / Any other Black background
 /  / 

Chinese or Other Ethnic Group

Chinese / Other Ethnic Group
 / 