2022-03-01 15:21:10 +0000
You can see our press release in the Hampshire Chronicle on the link below.
Follow updates on our Twitter account @YourMHA
To: Hampshire County Council
#SaveHampshireServices - Stop critical funding to older people's community schemes from being cut
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This petition aims to keep Hampshire’s Community Grants funding alive, ensuring that thousands of older people across Hampshire can still access vital services and receive the support they need.
Hampshire County Council (HCC) is currently consulting on plans to cut the Community Grants, as they seek to save £680,000 from the Adult Social Care budget. But if this funding is removed, it will end £320,000 of financial support which currently enables a range of activities that help to prevent older people from requiring extended adult social care services too soon; keeping each person connected to their communities and independently living in their homes for longer.
Our service receives £240,000 of the overall funding and the proposed cuts would mean that charitable care providers like ours would have to scrap some critical services, dramatically reducing core activities that help thousands of older people across the county each week.
Once you have signed the petition, we would be really grateful if you could tell us why these services are important to you or a loved one. By providing a quote you will be giving us content that we may use on social media to promote the petition. Please let us know if you are happy for us to use your name when we share your quote.
Why is this important?
Our new report shows that from the £240,000 that we receive via HCC Community Grants, we are able to save the public purse at least £312,418 every year – at least £72,000 per year more than we receive in total from the grants.
Not only this, but the savings to older people’s lives are even greater. Following a survey of the older people who access our services and activities in Hampshire we found:
• 57% felt that activities and services that they engaged with help to reduce their feelings of isolation and loneliness.
• 86% who took part in exercise classes (such as strength and balance groups, cheerleading and tai chi) felt that the services improved their physical fitness.
• 16% of service users (325 of 2,300) said that accessing services and activities provided by the Community Grants delayed them needing to access social care services in 2021
• 1 in ten (244 of 2,300) service users told us that these services reduced their need to access health services as a result of ill health.
We need your support to stop these life-saving grants from being cut so we can keep enabling older people in Hampshire to live later life well, please add your voice to the campaign and sign the petition below.
You can help to share this petition on social media using the hashtag #SaveHampshireServices
If you would like to add your views to Hampshire County Council’s consultation directly please visit the HCC website at: https://www.hants.gov.uk/AHC-consultation
Read our full report here: https://mha.org.uk/savehampshireservices
