[Peer - Rethink]

In today's Huffington Post our CEO Paul Jenkins writes:


"At a time of spending cuts and squeezed budgets at every level of government, people with mental illness and their families are understandably nervous about the future. They are seeing services they used to rely on being drastically scaled back or shut down completely. It's a worrying time. They also know from experience that mental health services are particularly vulnerable because they have historically been seen as an 'easy' cut to make. People with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia are understandably not always the ones who shout the loudest when it comes to influencing local spending decisions."

We recently sent a Freedom Of Information request to local councils to find out exactly how much money was being set aside and the findings alarmed us.

Paul explains:

"Fewer than half came back with the figures we asked for. Some refused to give us the figures at all, on the basis that they had to report them to central government later in the year anyway. When those figures were eventually published, three months after the budgets had been set, we compared them with the figures we'd been given through the FOI requests, to check they were consistent. We soon realised they weren't. In fact, 90% of figures they reported to government were completely different to the ones they'd given to us."

And this is why today we are launching our lost in localism report and #showusthemoney campaign ; crucial information that mental health organisations such as our use to plan for the future.


You can take action now by joining our campaign or joining us on www.facebook.com/rethinkcharity

[firemonkey]

My council,Southend on sea,responded well.

[CaptSpaceBat]

Show us the money, Lambeth Council!
When we asked your council if they had cut or increased the money they give to mental health services, they didn’t answer this question. They wanted us to ask the Government instead!

[Spartikus Rex]

It's the cathedral on the hill here, the way it's placed overlooking the council and almost half the city. Some big guy might be within it and that rumour keeps everyone round here on the level, enough. The original CCTV.

Your council responded well to our request for information. The figures they gave us even matched the figures they sent to government.

[toffee]

I'm going to email the MP asking that they don't make these figures easily accessible.
I think doing so will be just as detrimental as the energy companies showing how much of their income goes on welfare/benefit support. The public doesn't like mental health issues. If some journalist with a gripe against mental health gets hold of the figures there will then be loads of articles....'xxx council spends z millions a year on mental health...welfare figures for mental health are already y huge percent of the welfare bill...' and so on.

[mld]

It looks as if Kent didn't respond, which trust was contacted I suppose makes a difference.

It looks bad for our area.

M.

[Spartikus Rex]

Don't rely on the government to sort this out. Report it to the IMF as a example of sharp practice at the heart of the governments fiscal policy. That'll earn Rethink big friends if the complaint is worded right, just saying...I haven't said anything.