The National Housing Federation has voiced its concern at the government’s delay in announcing resources for the Supporting People programme beyond 2004-05.

Funding was expected to be announced as part of the Spending Review statement on 12 July, but resources still had not been confirmed as Fedlink went to press some six weeks later. We understand that the overall announcement will be made imminently, with details of local allocations unlikely to emerge until December. The delay has been the cause of major headaches for federation members, making planning services for vulnerable people extremely difficult.

It is the latest in a series of delays and setbacks to the programme. We have written to Lord Rooker, the minister handling SP in Yvette Cooper’s absence due to maternity leave, expressing concern about the impact this continuing uncertainty is having on vulnerable people and the organisations that support them.

It appears delays have been caused by the failure of different government departments to agree to resource the transfers needed to sustain a proper level of funding to meet the the programme’s stated objectives – the efficient delivery of housing with support requirements and a continuing programme of meeting unmet needs.

When the announcement is finally made, we anticipate the global level to be reduced in line with “efficiency savings”, as with other ODPM programmes. This will add to the 2.5% reduction required in 2004/05 following the Robson Rhodes report. We will be pressing ODPM to ensure that there is no arbitrary implementation of efficiency savings by administering authorities, as has been the experience this year in so many places.

In any event, ODPM has advised that detailed allocations to individual authorities will not be made until after the summer. By then, the Matrix consultancy’s report on SP will have become available, and the Audit Commission will have advanced its programme of special inspections for “overspending” administering authorities.

The Efficiency Imperative

As the Housing Corporation consults on its new efficiency indicator, the federation has published a new briefing highlighting the work already being done by associations to achieve cost savings.

The Efficiency Imperative argues that associations are ready and willing to meet the efficiency challenge: indeed, they have been proactive in finding new ways of recycling savings back into investment. But the document stresses that associations must be judged on more than their ability to cut costs.

Federation chief executive Jim Coulter said: “Effectiveness must be regarded as just as important as efficiency – together they describe value. The potential gains of more cost-effective services for customers and greater productivity and investment made through savings must not be based upon adverse trade-offs in the quality of services or homes provided.

“The challenge is to achieve a balance between reducing costs and maintaining service quality. Associations welcome this challenge. Efficiency is a key theme of our sector change programme, iN business for neighbourhoods. But we also recognise that our first responsibility is to offer our customers opportunities to improve their quality of life. We are not saying the two aims are incompatible – far from it. Rather, we want to make sure the government understands that efficiency and effectiveness are inextricably linked.”