Urgent letter r.e. HSG funding freeze

A real-terms cut in funding means a pay-freeze for vital homelessness support staff during the cost-of-living crisis

We have written an urgent letter to Ministers asking them to reconsider a freeze on funding.

In the Welsh Government’s draft budget for 2023/24, the total Housing Support Grant (HSG) budget for all Welsh authorities is £166m.

Due to inflation, this represents a real terms cut on the current level of funding.

What this means in practice:

• The vast majority of our services across Wales are commissioned by local authorities and funded from the Housing Support Grant (HSG).
• All housing support workers in HSG-funded projects are likely to see a pay-freeze – and a real-terms pay cut – for the next year, despite the rising costs of living.
• The only sustainable way to provide real-terms salary increases is to raise the total level of funding of the HSG.

We wrote to the Minister for Finance and Local Government, the Minister for Climate Change, the Local Government and Housing Committee, and to the Finance Committee at the Senedd detailing our concerns.

We hope the issues raised in this letter will prompt a consideration of the vital nature of the work that we do, and the need to reward support staff fairly for our contributions to communities across Wales.