URGENT talks are to be held between The Winchester Beacon and council bosses after it was announced the charity would have thousands slashed from its annual funding.

The Beacon, which offers 24-hour support to its homeless residents, is set to see a reduction of almost £10,000 from the £60,000 purse it received from Winchester City Council last year.

An additional 17 to 20 per cent is to be cut from its county council grant, with the authority needing to make huge savings of £80m by April 2023 to recuperate losses made during the pandemic.

The charity previously said while it understood savings had to be made, the cuts could lead to a reduction in its "life-changing" support.

Michèle Price, chief executive of The Winchester Beacon, said: “We are disappointed by any news of potential funding cuts to our service, and we will be meeting with both Hampshire County Council and Winchester City Council representatives in the next few weeks for urgent talks about our future funding.”

This comes after Hampshire County Council recently agreed on a reduction of £360,000 from its homelessness support services, with a significant amount of those savings being made in Winchester.

Councillor Liz Fairhurst, the executive member for adult services and public health, said: “The statutory responsibility for supporting people who are homeless rests with district and borough local authorities. Given this, and the increasing financial pressures the County Council is experiencing, our support for homelessness services across Hampshire will reduce by £360,000 each year from next April. We will however, continue to spend some £2million per annum to help deliver accommodation for the most vulnerable homeless people, as well as outreach and community support in those areas where accommodation is harder to access.”

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Meanwhile, the city council confirmed the cuts while finalising its spending plan for the 2022/2023 homelessness prevention grant - although it didn't pass without challenge.

Speaking on behalf of Councillor Caroline Horrill, who was absent from the meeting, Councillor Michael Read said: "The key project I am most concerned about is the Beacon. It does receive small allocations of money from other council budgets, but the importance of this facility to our homeless provision is critical and the money they receive accommodates that.

"The Beacon provides 10 beds in Winchester with a priority allocation, without this facility the responsibility of this council would be significant. The Beacon is also under pressure from reduced funding from the county which is significant for the charity. I would therefore ask the cabinet to reconsider the allocation of monies to the Beacon given the importance of its place in the overall homelessness provision in the district."

Responding to Cllr Horrill's comments, Karen Thorburn, strategic housing manager for Winchester City Council, said: "In total, we will be funding the Beacon in the region of £50,000 coming from the homeless prevention grant and the communities grant. Last year, we funded them just under £60,000 and that included some capital funding to go towards a property they purchased for move on accommodation. County have funded them quite substantially over the last three years, and they have announced they are going to reduce that funding in the region of 17 to 20 per cent. I do appreciate Cllr Horrill's comments regarding the Beacon. We have limited funds and we have to serve all the residents of Winchester as best we possibly can with those funds."

Gillian Knight, head of housing options & allocations, added: "We are focussed on making sure the grant is equally shared out so all households facing homelessness receive some kind of support from us. Single homelessness tends to be the high profile issue but there are many other forms of homelessness, and so while the Beacon is very much appreciated by the council, I do feel that the grant which we've awarded this year is reflective considering it is topped up by Hampshire CC."

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