Vital service for Derbyshire's homeless saved from closure

As reported at the end of last month, the Derbyshire Outreach Team (DOT) faced closure as a result of funding cuts.

Now, P3 - the charity which launched DOT in January last year - has announced it has managed to secure the immediate future of the much-needed service.

Rebecca Harrington-Leigh, P3's assistant director of operations, explained: "We are delighted to be able to announce that funding has been secured for the immediate future of P3's DOT.

"Chesterfield Borough Council has agreed - in partnership with the Derbyshire districts - to fund the service until the end of March while longer-term solutions are considered.

"This means that we are already responding to new incoming rough sleeper referrals on DOT's freephone number 0808 1647 753 and via Streetlink at [email protected] and we are continuing to engage with the people already known to the service who are rough sleeping across the county.

"We are now extremely hopeful that the service will continue long-term.

"Thank you to everyone who responded to our call to save DOT - your support reinforced the importance of ensuring this small but impactful service remains open."

Councillor Helen Bagley, Chesterfield Borough Council's cabinet member for homes and customers, said: "DOT offers a vital service to rough sleepers in Chesterfield, which is why we have worked with other districts in the county to provide the funding for the service to continue in the short term while options for the service’s long-term future are considered."

Coun Barry Lewis, leader of Derbyshire County Council, added: "We've been discussing behind the scenes to help get funding in place.

"There has been lots of partnership working and goodwill to get to this point so quickly.

"Let's hope there's a longer-term solution - not just locally but nationally."

DOT's team heads out in the early hours of the morning to respond to new referrals and visit known rough sleeping sites in order to make contact with people who are vulnerable, alone and sleeping on the streets of Derbyshire.

Team members work tirelessly to build up trust with those people and help them access support and accommodation.

Latest latest Government statistics showed the number of rough sleepers in Derbyshire rose by 317 per cent between 2010 and last autumn.

For more information about DOT, visit www.p3charity.org/services/derbyshire-street-outreach