Green councillors have urged the Labour-run council to save domestic refuge work from cuts in the coming budget.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s current domestic abuse refuge partner RISE faces a reduction of £29,000 to fund its LGBT dispersed refuge service which helped 41 survivors of domestic abuse last year.
Green councillors said in a statement that investment plans of £70,000 for a feasibility study for a new Business Improvement District (BID) could be better spent on supporting RISE.
But Labour’s finance lead, Councillor Jacob Taylor, said that the cuts would not mean the end for the service because the council would be recommissioning a reduced value contract later in the year.
In a statement, RISE said: “This is news every charity dreads and is compounded by the fact the council proposes these cuts will start mid-year.
“Given time, we may have been able to fundraise and apply for grant funding to bridge gaps. This timeframe makes that an impossibility.”
The council has had a duty to support survivors of domestic abuse and their children in a safe place since the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 became law.
And the council has more than £600,000 of funding for 2024-25 which will continue to be ringfenced for work to stop violence against women and girls (VAWG).
Green councillor Chloë Goldsmith, who sits on the council’s equalities committee, said: “We stand with campaigners shocked and outraged that Labour’s budget proposals take chunks out of the vital work of local domestic abuse charity RISE, with cuts threatening LGBT refuge spaces and wellbeing support for women and children.
“This is a matter of priorities and RISE has already had to fight for fair funding in previous years.
“Labour’s planned consultation events on combating VAWG will mean nothing if crucial services that actually have an impact for survivors are put at risk by their proposed budget cuts.
“Labour could reverse this cut at budget council if they were willing to accept our alternative proposal and we urge them to work with us on this.
“With £30 million of cuts being made to council budgets, we should be using what little money is left to save both public and charity services that people in our city desperately rely on.
“Now is not the time to set money aside for a BID feasibility study or prospectus projects that don’t even exist yet.
“These ideas could be explored later and not when RISE is at risk without the continuation of council funding it was promised.
“We hope Labour will accept our amendment to their budget plans and consider seriously our proposed option to save RISE.”
Campaigners from Brighton Women’s Liberation Collective and Brighton Rise Up have called on the council to save RISE in an open letter.
Members of both groups are expected to protest outside the council’s annual budget meeting at Hove Town Hall next Thursday (22 February). The meeting is due to start at 4.30pm.
A statement on the proposed budget by Community Works, which speaks for the community and voluntary sector, said that it was disappointed not to have been consulted at an earlier stage.
Community Works said: “We are concerned about the disproportionate impact the proposed budget will have on the people and communities in our city who are already the most disadvantaged and at risk.
“If the proposed savings go ahead, vital services would be reduced or even close.”
Councillor Taylor said: “The Greens seem to be confused about the details of the budget and have made various errors in what they’ve stated although finance and budgeting has never been a strong suit for the Green party in this city.
“To be clear, we are not discontinuing the LGBT dispersed refuge service. This is a hugely important service and we are wholly committed to it continuing.
“This service is currently commissioned from RISE and the contract runs to September 2024. The council will be recommissioning this service later in the year, with a proposed reduction of £29,000 in the value of the contract. RISE will, of course, be welcome to bid for this contract.
“We remain completely committed to the vital work that the council commissions to reduce VAWG, as well as refuge services offered to LGBT people. We will be maintaining a gross budget of over £1 million to support VAWG reduction in 2024-25.
“As part of our proposals to close an unprecedented budget gap of over £30 million for next year, we have put forward some savings in this area which mainly reflect underspent budget last year and increased efficiencies in the way services are delivered and commissioned.
“RISE continues to be a hugely important and valued partner for the council in this vitally important service area. It is worth noting that RISE currently holds a budget of £317,640 from council funding, the majority of which is unimpacted by these budget proposals.”
Some other services that faced cuts in the council’s proposed budget have been given at least a partial reprieve after the government allocated slightly more money than expected.
The council published further proposals that would enable, for example, the Youth Advice Centre to continue to support homeless prevention work if, as expected, the draft budget is agreed.
Councillors are also expected to debate a proposed savings package of almost £24 million at the meeting next week so that the council can set a balanced budget for 2024-25.
Well, according to their accounts, they’ve managed to over the last two years go from a £17,000 deficit to a £151,000 deficit. Sigh, do wish people stop considering donations as a regular income stream, it’s really unsustainable and makes organisations extremely vulnerable to things like this.
Surely the role of a council is to deliver basic statutory services well. They are not doing this. The parks are not being looked after. The town centre looks a disgrace with tents everywhere springing up on Western Rd. I have no doubt this charity like many others does good work but it is a charity that in effect is a business. It needs to fundraise and if people support it they will give it money. It should not be the council’s job to charge us more council tax than Knightsbridge residents and then give it out to charities. People in Brighton can make their own decisions as to which charities we would like to support with our hard-earned money.
But the council just doesn’t give it money. It contracts with it to provide a certain level of service. If it wasn’t this charity it would be another one or a business or the council itself.
As to tents on western road – where are they? I walk along it several times a week and have yet to see any tents but I do see homeless people.
I know Rise do some great work but didn’t they lose their contract with the council to someone else? Surely we can’t be paying for whoever won the contract and continue to fund Rise.
Yes it was reported here
https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2021/02/12/shock-as-brighton-domestic-violence-charity-loses-5m-contract/
I thought so. We must be paying twice then. No wonder the councils going bankrupt.
Domestic and sexual violence services are massively underfunded and now brighton and hove have a patchwork of providers including specialist experts with a long track record and new national providers. In the year that RISE were decommissioned the Domestic abuse act resulted in 600k more funding in Brighton and Hove to better meet the specialist need.
Yes but the council will still be funding a service just not the greens pet charity. Also a little research on the women’s liberation collective shows that one of their members is suing the survivors network for supporting trans survivors so I think highlighting Rise LGBT services is a bit of a smokescreen
The Greens would have a much better case if the council didn’t have to put away £2m every year to pay off the i360 debt that they and the Tories inflicted on the council tax payers.
That £2 million is £2 million that would other wise be available to spend on services.
Reverse ALL cuts in services and get rid of unnecessary Council Officers.
And who would those ‘unnecessary’ staff be? Please name them and their roles Barry.
And how would YOU balance the budget to reverse those cuts as the council can only pass a balanced budget.
What fees and charges would you increase? And that an actual increase not some nebulous ‘oh we’ll find the money later’ wishful thinking
Have you actually read the budget papers? You’ll be far better informed when you do that.
Saying the same unsubstantiated thing doesn’t make your words compelling, Barry. Just marks you out as someone who is rather illinformed.