THOUSANDS of vulnerable people living in York could lose out under £4 million of proposed cutbacks.

Elderly people, domestic violence victims and the disabled are among the people who would be affected if the Government makes good on a threat to slash its Supporting People (SP) grant to City of York Council.

York's grant could be set to reduce by almost 50 per cent, from the current £8.64 million to £4.37 million in about ten years, if a formula is used which has been worked out by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM).

Although no decision has yet been made, a report due to go before a meeting of the council's executive on Friday states the proposal would "represent a significant risk to services in York".

Council housing chief Sue Sunderland said if the Government chose to go ahead with its proposals the consequences would be "dire" for the most vulnerable people in society. SP was launched in 2003, and is a programme which enables the provision of housing support to allow vulnerable people to live independently.

Bill Hodson, the council's acting chief of community services, said York has been at the forefront of developing initiatives to enable people to live in the community rather than in institutional care.

But he said many schemes were reliant on SP, and cuts in funding would impact on the number of people employed doing home visits providing support and advice to the needy.

According to Mr Hodson, reducing the grant by almost 50 per cent would make it impossible to retain the full range of current services unless there is a substantial investment from local agencies.

Mr Hodson said: "Some of these groups are relatively small. When you are talking about some of the most vulnerable people with learning difficulties there are around 650 in York.

"But when it comes to elderly people there are thousands using the existing service."

Other people who would be affected by the potential cutbacks include drug and alcohol addicts, homeless families, travellers, offenders and people with mental health problems.

"Most get support from a worker once or twice a week, who will give them help and advice with everything from cooking to how to manage their finances and getting on with their neighbours."

Coun Sunderland said: "If this went ahead it would be dire, quite frankly, and it's something I have grave concerns about. It would be just another example of York losing out."

The executive has been recommended to respond by emphasising to ODPM the threat to services that the introduction of a new formula would pose.

Updated: 10:03 Wednesday, February 15, 2006