Kent Arts and Wellbeing have, through the Kent County Council Universal Wellbeing contract, run free art classes in Maidstone and Gravesham. Over the last 3 years these classes have been well attended and greatly appreciated, and participants have consistently reported an improvement in wellbeing.
Sadly,KCC have decided in the light of their financial position that the funding of the contract is to be substantially reduced(around 60%) and effort refocussed. Consequently,a whole swathe of activities which help prevent a deterioration in wellbeing will be cut, our art classes likely to be among them.
What is particularlyfrustrating isthat it has been reported that these activities have achieved an increase in wellbeing of 1 on the ONS4 measure of wellbeing. If maintained for a year this increase in wellbeing is estimated by the government to be worth £13,000 per person –as indicated in the Treasury Green book. The £13,000 is made up of a range of costs avoidedbecause of improvedwellbeing.If you take a very pessimistic view as to how long the benefits will last, you still get a payback of around 25:1. The implication is for every £1 saved by KCC, there will be a £25 cost incurred elsewhere in our health and social care system.
This calculation is based on limited data and assumptions. It could and should be challenged, but there does not appear to be any evidence that the ONS 4 data collected at a cost over the last 3 years has been used to develop proposals or understand the impact of withdrawing some very successful prevention services. It will not alter the financial position facing KCC, and the need for cuts, but it should be a transparent element in the decision making.
