A local disability charity is calling for fundraising help after the budget for its advice centre was halved.
Possability People say cuts agreed in the council’s latest budget last month will have a “devastating impact on staffing levels and capacity.”
The charity’s advice centre will lose all of its council funding from 31 March, a funding cut of £29,000 which makes up nearly 50 percent of the advice centre’s total budget.
A crowdfunding campaign was launched to replace some of the lost funding for its advisors, which runs until Friday, 29 March.
Angela Graham, chief officer at Possability People, said: “We had over 7,500 enquiries last year, with a record number of people seeking help.
“Our services are already stretched to the limit.
“Our volunteers and staff are working flat out, answering as many calls and seeing as many people with urgent and complex problems as they can.
“But we know there are many others struggling to get through to us and many more who need our help.
“Whilst I appreciate the council has had to make difficult decisions, the funding cuts will have a devastating impact on staffing levels and capacity, which for those in vulnerable situations will be catastrophic.”
The advice centre, which operates both in person and by email and phone, helps clients with issues such as Blue Badge and access queries as well as applications for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or Universal Credit.
The charity says that each £7000 milestone in the crowdfund appeal would fully fund an advisor for a year.
The advice centre already has a team of volunteers who work alongside the advisors, and who receive training and support from the advisors.
Just demand your share from the £10.7m ‘Tackling Inequality’ council budget.
What else is it for?
https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/council-budget/our-capital-investment-programme-2024-2025
I’m angry that this has happened but sadly I’m not surprised.
Labour Leader has said he wants to be tougher on welfare and his MPs talk about not allowing worklessness to be an option.
It’s pure ableism that shows ignorance of, and contempt for, disability.
So what better way for Labour to get started than to get local Government to remove funding from one of the few organisations that actually helps disabled people get what we need and are entitled to so that we can survive and try to have quality of life?
That’s a capital investment budget. So explicitly not for paying staffing costs.
This is a terrible cut for the city’s disabled community, and NOT in keeping with the Accessible City Strategy.
Lobby the Council together with other charities, to set up a Community Lottery that pays out prizes and also funds local community groups and charities . Set up is like the National Lottery with terminals and scratch cards . Other councils do this
This is a really important advice centre for Brighton and Hove and for some of the cities most vulnerable residents. A lot of people won’t know what to do and will fail to obtain benefit based income, proper care or access to health provision. Situations like this are lacking in thought, not only in that vulnerable people suffer, but this then leads to more money needing to be spent on problems that could have been avoided or impacts that could have been reduced. Short sightedness in action. What’s happened to Brighton and Hove being an Accessible City?