Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government, Mark Isherwood AM, has called on the Welsh Government to stop cutting funding for voluntary groups whose vital work eases pressure on statutory services and consequently saves money.
Raising the matter with the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip in the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood spoke of a number of voluntary groups across Wales who are struggling due to funding cuts and asked why the “Welsh Government is still pursuing these false economies”.
He said:
“The Family Fund has reported a further reduction in Welsh Government funding for 2020-1, despite the high levels of need they're seeing from families raising disabled children. The Wales Council of the Blind has warned that the Welsh Government's move away from the core-funding model to project funding means the sustainability of specifically Welsh umbrella organisations is under immediate threat.
“Responding to the cash-flat settlement for the Housing Support Grant in the Welsh Government's draft budget - a cut in real terms - Welsh Women's Aid, Cymorth Cymru and Community Housing Cymru warned that services preventing homelessness and supporting independent living had reached a tipping point, and a supported-living service provider in North Wales told me the consequences would be increased pressure on the NHS, Accident and Emergency departments, and blue-light services. But the Welsh Government has ignored these calls and frozen the Housing Support Grant within its Final Budget.
“Why is the Welsh Government still pursuing these false economies, which see key early intervention and prevention services, delivered by the voluntary sector, starved of funding, adding millions to the cost pressure on statutory services, rather than learning from this, working with the sector, truly co-productively, to spend that money better, deliver more, and actually save more from the Welsh Government's budget too?”
In her response, the Deputy Minister told Mr Isherwood that the Welsh Government’s Final Budget “has a priority on social justice, housing need and sustaining the services … which includes volunteering”.
