Sandra is among the 10,000 county people a year helped to get back on their feet by a service which looks after the vulnerable. But SUNDEEP KUMAR finds out its work could be threatened by funding cuts

In a couple of weeks Sandra O'Brien Jones will start a 12-week placement as an NHS administrator, at the end of which she'll have a full-time job.

But she would not have had this opportunity without the support of the YMCA and the hundreds of thousands of pounds it receives from Worcestershire Supporting People.

This money helps thousands maintain an independent life by helping with accommodation, shopping and errands, access to community organisations and legal services.

In fact, the funding accounts for around 40 per cent of the YMCA's turnover.

"The YMCA probably saved my life. God knows where I would be if I had not been living here," said Sandra.

The 22-year-old is originally from Bradford but a difficult relationship with her family has led her to live in Worcestershire.

She has been at the YMCA, in Henwick Road, St John's, Worcester, since August 2004.

"I got to YMCA and I was a bit messed up and I needed someone to point me in the right direction," she said.

While she does her placement, at Studdert Kennedy House mental health centre, off City Walls Road, Worcester, she is taking the European Computer Driving Licence course - an internationally recognised qualification in IT skills.

"I think it was the fact that I was doing this course that helped me get the job," she said.

Her progress has been so impressive that she has even been chosen as one of the four yearly nominees to move out of the YMCA into council accommodation, which she achieved by proving that she is capable of living independently.

"When I first moved in I would not have been nominated for anything," said Sandra.

"But my whole attitude has changed because of the support that the YMCA has provided."

The funding for Worcestershire Supporting People comes from central government via the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

But earlier this month the Worcester News reported that funding for the county programme has fallen from £16.5m in 2003-4 to £15.9m for this year and next, and to £15.2m for the following two years. There are fears that the cuts could reach £3.4m by the end of the decade.

Mel Smith, project co-ordinator at the YMCA, said the Supporting People team had not yet been in contact to tell them where the cuts will be made.

"It does concern us.

The Supporting People service has been good for us," she said.

"It's enabled us to improve the service we offer."

Without it, one of the dangers is that the ratio of residents to support workers could increase, which would mean less time and support for each resident.

However, the YMCA would not turn people away, because funding for accommodation comes from the city council.

Another beneficiary of the Supporting People service is 56-year-old Donald Winston Cook. He has been living in a shared house in Malvern Link for around 18 months. His accommodation is partly funded by the programme.

Mr Cook used to be a chef at the town's Abbey Hotel. But his long-term alcohol problem cost him his job and he spent a number of years living on the streets. Just before he moved into the complex, he spent a week in hospital after being mugged in Worcester.

Seven tenants live in the two semi-detached houses. Their everyday needs, from help with benefit claims to being given lifts to various place, are taken care of by a staff of four.

"I like it here - the staff are very supportive," he said.

"I keep myself to myself. I like to watch television. I've got Sky TV in my room."

A spokesman for The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said an independent review, published in January 2004, found that the £1.81bn handed to similar services around the country was too much to pay for the services provided.

He said subsequent studies found that there was significant potential for making savings in the current pattern of service provision while safeguarding valuable services.

"We believe local authorities should be able to secure five per cent savings, which is the average reduction in Supported People funding in 2005/06," he said.

"Efficiency savings are available to all authorities and the service review process is the mechanism for identifying and delivering them.

"Authorities should use service reviews to ensure that the programme is only supporting services which are eligible for support, value for money, strategically relevant and good quality.

"Individual decisions on service provision rest with Administering Authorities (AAs) based on local priorities. AAs have been asked to find efficiency savings. We recommend that they should not make across the board, blanket cuts to services. Where a service is decommissioned, we expect the authority to make the needs of vulnerable people a

priority and to find alternative support to meet their needs."