voluntary sector funding cuts

Photo: users of Hammersmith voluntary services protest in April about funding cuts

So... your funding dries up on Monday if you're one of the Hammersmith and Fulham voluntary sector groups that Hammersmith and Fulham Tory Council has targeted for funding cuts.

It's been six months since the council's cabinet voted to direct funding away from longstanding, left-leaning groups like the Hammersmith Community Law Centre and towards less bolshie organisations. (The Tory council claims that it's not cutting funding overall to the voluntary sector, but the Labour group begs to differ: they say funding drops significantly from October (ie Monday) and even more significantly in the 2008 to 2009 year, when projections are for an overall cut of more than 25%).

The legal action taken against the council by three people who've used voluntary sector services in Hammersmith and Fulham came to very little this week. The three aimed to argue that the council hadn't consulted properly about the cuts, or talked with the people who were going to be most affected. This seemed a likely argument - a fair few organisations heard about the proposed cuts to their funding on the grapevine, not through any formal council process.

In April, when the cabinet voted for the cuts, people like Helena Ismail from the Somali support group Horn of Africa, which lost all its funding, said they hadn't received as much as a phone call from the council about it. She found out when the Hammersmith Community Law Centre rang her and told her. The Hammersmith Community Law Centre only found out because one of its lawyers happened to see the council report that recommended the cuts.

The Hammersmith Law Centre will lose 60% of its funding in cuts voted for by the Tory Hammersmith and Fulham Council, which is fairly disastrous.

This site is adding interviews with people who have used the law centre for legal help and advice over the years. Law centre clients are often immigrants and people seeking asylum. They're often from places the west is hostile to: Afghanistan, Iran and so on.

If you click on the 'read more' link below, links to all other articles and interviews on this topic will appear in the menu to the right.

Here's another guy who went to the law centre for help negotiating immigration law and the Home Office. He's from Iran. He's a witty, gentle type who is almost happy to talk about life as an Middle Eastern immigrant in these delicate times. He's a little reluctant to release personal details, like his name.

'Maybe I am too paranoid,' he grins. 'You can worry too much about them saying things out there about you.'

That is true, although there are times when paranoia is probably the rational option. This guy, now greying a little, did a bit of political organising in Iran when he was younger. He seems to have come to the attention of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or the Iranian authorities, at least, as a result. 'I mean, I was helping some students, and I helped some people do some political things... um, like taking part in meetings, organising meetings... so I decided to stay here.'

Hangbitch was (were?) in close attendance at last night's public meeting/debate on the Hammersmith and Fulham Tory Council's cuts to voluntary sector funding. Will post a report on the event shortly (update: here it is), but in the meantime, here are some photos to enjoy.

Your man on the right getting a Guinness in during the debate is Tory Councillor and Evening Standard hack Harry Phibbs.

What a cracker he was.

Isn't Phibbs the greatest name a politician ever had? Ten points for pushing on with it.

PS: could the worthy Tories who keeping emailing/spamming us with the news that abortion rates up are get lost, please? We are pro-abortion and you are not, so probably spam is going to PISS US OFF.

Many thanks.

This is the latest article in a series about Hammersmith and Fulham Council's cutting of funding to voluntary sector organisations, and its targeting in particular of the Hammersmith and Fulham Law Centre, which is about to lose 60% of its funding.

There are links to the earlier articles in this series at the end of this story. There are also links to the Conservative blogs that have been discussing this issue and these posts.

Community law centres aren't always popular with the national and local politicians that fund them, but surely that's par for the course?

Law centres were set up to provide free legal advice to people who can't afford to pay for legal help and representation. Often, these people are users of public services like immigration services, council housing, and welfare. And there are, unfortunately, times when these people are not given the right advice about their immigration, housing and welfare entitlements.

The truth is that government agencies and councils are as capable of cocking up as the rest of us, and on an awesome scale when they really give it a go. They wrongly deny people their entitlements to housing benefits, or at work, or they don't act on complaints with quite the vigour you'd hope.

And who can blame them for these shambles? Times ain't exactly high in the public-sector trenches. Frontline staff - people who know as much as anyone about the ways that complex benefits systems work and combine - are being culled at a majestic rate. God only knows what is happening at the Home Office. Councils are a riot

...in their attempts to close Hurlingham and Chelsea School in Hammersmith ....

Will be updating this site shortly with more interviews with people affected by the voluntary sector cuts at Hammersmith and Fulham.
Still doing interviews now.

Hangbitch New Statesman watch on the Hammersmith and Fulham Tories