ePetition details

Protect an essential community based service

We the undersigned petition the council to protect and retain the East Sussex Floating Support Service. The service is facing a funding reduction would constitute 88.5% of the current service, which will have a significant impact on the residents of East Sussex. People are referred to the service by Children’s Services, Adult Social Care, Local Authorities, and other statutory and voluntary sector partners. In the last 12 months (Oct 2023/Sept 2024) • 5,064 people have been directly supported by the Service • The total number of people in these households was 10,399 (parents, children, grandparents etc) • 1,287 of these households had children • 1,116 people were 75 years old +

BHT Sussex have run the service for the past 3 years. In the past 12 months, the service has worked with 5,500 East Sussex residents, supporting single people and families who are facing a range of housing related issues. We support people who are at imminent risk of homelessness, people who require support to remain in their current accommodation, people who need support regarding domestic abuse, harassment and hate crime, people who need to claim benefits that they are entitled to, and those who need to reduce debt that is putting their housing at risk.

In the last 12 months we have worked with clients who have been referred by the following agencies:

Children’s Services:
603 people were referred by Statutory Children’s Services (referrals from Children’s Services are when the risk to children in the household is high), including:
• 80 families at direct risk of homelessness
• 120 families already experiencing homelessness (families living in temporary accommodation, living in unsecure accommodation)
• 101 people at risk of domestic violence

Adult Social Care:
2,230 people were referred by Adult Social Care, including:
• 490 people referred due to Mental Health problems (anxiety, depression, bi-polar disorder, schizoaffective disorders, personality disorders)
• 336 people referred directly from the Dementia Support Team (over 60’s)
• 132 people referred due to high levels of vulnerability due to frailty (over 60’s) – (frailty relates to the client’s mental and physical resilience, or their ability to bounce back and recover from events like illness and injury).

Local Housing Authorities:
1,416 referrals from the Local Housing Authorities (the 5 District and Boroughs- Hastings, Rother, Wealden, Eastbourne, Lewes):
• 282 single people referred who were homeless (208) or at risk of homelessness (74)
• 299 families referred that were homeless (175) or at risk of homelessness (124)
• 243 people referred due to Mental Health problems
• 101 older people referred with support needs (access to extra care housing, support with benefit applications, referrals for ASC care packages, mobility issues, physical health issues)
• 98 people referred at risk of domestic violence

Please sign this petition to protect this vital service.

This ePetition runs from 04/11/2024 to 10/01/2025.

Nobody has yet signed this ePetition.