Government blamed for Sane helpline cut back
Mental health charity Sane has attacked the Department of Health over funding problems that it says are responsible for its decision to cut back the helpline it runs for people with mental illnesses.
It says the Department’s failure to pay it money owed in timely fashion, answer its requests for meetings or ensure its future funding has left it unable to continue Saneline in its present form, and has prevented it from finding alternative sources of money that would have allowed it to continue the service.
As a result, by March, two helpline offices in Bristol and Maccesfield will be closed with the loss of 127 jobs, and its ability to deal with more than 1,000 calls it answers each week will be severely affected.
But the Department of Health has denied it is responsible, saying that the money will be paid “this week” and that there are other funding streams available.
Sane’s £1 million-a-year contract with the department to run Saneline expires in March, but chief executive Marjorie Wallace said the charity had always known that would be the case and had no complaint on that point.
The problem was that from March last year, it had not received the money it needed from the department to run the service.
“We had a two-year contract, and we have always had difficulty in getting the money out [of the department],” Ms Wallace said.
“From the beginning of this financial year, our invoices have been ignored and we have not been paid.
“The impact on us has been, apart from the anxiety and having to beg and beg, it’s crippled our plans for the future because we have not been able to give accounts that have been signed off, which means we have missed out on this year’s funding.”
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said it was paying Saneline the £1 million owed for the current contract “this week”, but Ms Wallace said: “It’s too late, isn’t it? This money was due months and months ago.”
She said Sane had been asking the Government for a meeting to discuss its future ever since March last year, but had received no response until December, when it was told there was “no future funding”.
The charity had received “no explanation whatsoever” for the department’s decision, she added.
She added that Sane would be looking to get compensation for the department’s failure to pay it the money owed in timely fashion. However, she was at pains to say the charity was “extremely sorry” it had come to this.
The Department for Health responded by saying: “The [department] is not withdrawing funding from Saneline. The current contract with Saneline comes to an end in March.
“Saneline, like all other voluntary and community sector organisations working in the health and social care sector, can apply to the department for funding. In addition, they are able to apply to other government funding streams.”
