Council cuts to drug and alcohol treatment spending fuelling rise in dependency, addiction group claims

Council cuts to spending on drug and alcohol dependency treatments have led to more people needing help, an addiction group has claimed.

The UK Addiction Treatment Group (UKAT), a private provider of detox and rehab treatments, says that the rise alongside real terms cuts “cannot be a coincidence”.

In Peterborough, £3.1m of the Government's public health grant was spent on drug and alcohol services a decade ago, the group says.

In that year, 2013, there were just four deaths recorded in the city due to drug poisoning, it added, which has risen to 18 in the most recent reporting year (2021).

The projected spend on treatment services from the grant this year, Peterborough City Council (PCC) says, is £2.6m, or around half a million less than in 2013.

“These figures force us into thinking that those in charge of budgets in their local community are unsympathetic towards those who suffer with addiction,” UKAT spokesperson Nuno Albuquerque said.

“It cannot be a coincidence that as spending on treatment services drops off, more and more people develop an addiction and need help,” he continued.

The group is calling on councils, including PCC, to support addicts to access “effective, residential rehab facilities”.

It has also shown support for ring-fenced drugs and alcohol treatment budgets.

Before 2012, councils were told how much of their public health grant to spend on drug and alcohol services; they are now free to create their own budgets.

This has led to hundreds of millions of pounds being cut from drugs and alcohol treatment budgets across the country, UKAT says.

But, despite this, the rise in drug deaths over the past two decades in Peterborough has been relatively small.

Between 2012 and 2021, 134 deaths from drug poisoning were recorded in Peterborough, up from 111 between 2002 and 2011.

Four deaths in 2013 was particularly low; the year before there were 10 and the year after, 19.

Additional funding has also come from outside the annual public health grant.

In February, the Government announced £1.9m extra funding for Peterborough for this year and next as part of an additional three-year grant.

The money was allocated on the basis of need with Peterborough receiving a larger grant than its neighbours.

The Conservative-led council welcomed the money; as did Peterborough's Labour Party, although it also criticised cuts to longer-term public health funding.

A spokesperson for PCC said: "We are fully committed to supporting people struggling with substance misuse and Peterborough has benefited from additional grant monies on top of the core public health grant.

"This means that over the last few years we have seen a significant expansion to the local specialist drug and alcohol service (provided by CGL)."

This has included a new dedicated outreach team for homeless people with addiction problems, a dedicated family safeguarding team and specialist employment support service for those in drug and alcohol treatment.

Drug treatment services in Peterborough are provided by the Safer Peterborough Partnership, made up of the council, Cambridgeshire Police, the Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service and the NHS.

Many of its treatment services are supplied by the Aspire Recovery Service, part of the Change Grow Live charity.

PCC has been contacted for comment.