Group needs £35,000 after council cuts funding

An organisation which helps vulnerable people in an area of Kent has warned that it may have to make job cuts as it has lost funding from the council.

wHoo Cares, which supports more than 500 people across the Hoo Peninsula, says it needs £35,000 to keep operating as normal.

Operations manager Barry Andrews said if an increasing number of people needed support it was "disappointing that we're going to struggle to be able to meet that".

Medway Council said it acted as the guarantor for the initial loan to establish wHoo Cares and had supported the organisation by providing financial support until the 2025-26 financial year, but the goal was always for it to be self-sufficient.

Jeanette Sancto, who benefited from the organisation, said when she first started receiving support it "felt like a tonne of weight had been lifted off my shoulders".

"I was just in tears when I came away from there because I really felt as though I had the back-up, and I've had back-up of wHoo Cares ever since," she added.

Sancto explained that people who were elderly, disabled or had learning difficulties could all benefit from the organisation.

"We can't lose wHoo Cares. We can't lose them," she said.

Andrews explained to the Local Democracy Reporting Service that wHoo Cares was setting up a commercial sister company to try to make the whole operation sustainable.

Medway Council said: "We have continued to offer support to the organisation, however, it is not sustainable to indefinitely make payments, or in line with how we work with other partners in the volunteer, community and faith sector."

The local authority said it told wHoo Cares in the 2024-25 financial year it would not receive funding moving forward and its team met with the organisation monthly to support them.

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