Voluntary services helping blind and disabled hit with £42,500 cut by Wandsworth Council

Wandsworth’s adult care and health overview and scrutiny committee agreed to the reduction in voluntary sector grants on Wednesday, February 4.

The council will still provide £350,000 to the voluntary sector in the next financial year.

However, for one charity, Balham Gateway Club, supporting people with learning difficulties, facing a cut means they may no longer be able to afford a minibus to take members to weekly get-togethers.

The group, which provides everything from arts and crafts to cooking, receives a £3,500 transport grant from the council to provide the bus. A final decision on a cut is currently under consultation.

Volunteer David Wood, 43, from Guildford, travels to Trinity St Mary’s School in Balham every Monday and said: "We have to question whether or not we are able to provide the service we have done for many years. This financial burden might be one step too far for us. We are dealing with vulnerable people, they can’t catch buses at 10.30pm."

Mr Wood, who has worked for the charity for more than 20 years, wrote an impassioned letter to the committe, which read: "I would not be prepared to help run a service for the benefit of the borough, when the borough does not support the members, who let’s face it have no collective voice."

Angry: A councillor has spoken out about the cuts 

Councillor Jeremy Ambache, who is on the committee, said Labour opposed the cut and added: "It will mean the closure or reduction of some vital services to older and disabled people. This is counter to the Government policy to support vulnerable people at home and to prevent hospital admissions."

Voluntary organisations facing cuts include £20,000 from the Thomas Pocklington Trust helping the blind and visually impaired, £8,000 from Age UK Wandsworth, £8,000 from Mushkil Aasaan and £4,000 from Generate for learning disabled.

Others affected will also include the Older Person’s Forum, Arthritis Care, Wandsworth Gateway Club and Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Tooting MP Sadiq Khan said: "It seems the Wandsworth Tories are readying the axe again, and this time they want to cut funding for the organisations that support the most vulnerable people in our borough."

A spokesman for Thomas Pocklington Trust said: "While we are disappointed that the voluntary sector grant from the council which currently helps funds our Balham Resource Centre has been reduced for the coming year, this is something that Thomas Pocklington Trust has been preparing for, given the challenges local authorities throughout the UK are facing."

Meanwhile, Age UK Wandsworth wrote to the committee and said the £8,159 reduction will impact the level of services they deliver and mean less people will be able to access services.

Tough times: Council said they were 'modest' reductions 

A council spokesman said: "The council is having to take tough decisions in the light of significant reductions in our Government grant and having to make doubly sure that we get value for money for every penny in our budget.

"We are proposing some modest reductions in the funding we give to some local voluntary organisations, but they will still receive around £350,000 from us next year, and we have guaranteed this level of support for the next two years which gives them a greater degree of certainty as they plan ahead.

"The proposed changes also come after consultation and negotiation with these groups and having also paid due regard to their overall financial situations."