Local drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services in the borough will benefit from additional funding next year.

The extra funding is the third year of a three-year substance misuse grant; in 2024/25, Bexley will receive £0.427m for drug treatment services and £0.035m for inpatient detoxification services, which will help to support current drug and alcohol services delivered by the Council.

Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Public Health, Cllr Melvin Seymour said:

This is excellent news for our residents. The additional funding will help us to make sure vulnerable people with substance misuse problems can access the help they need to recover and this will have benefits for the wider community”

The government has passed on the additional money to support its 10 year drug strategy to improve quality and access to drug and alcohol treatment. The third year of funding will be rolled out from April 2024 and will enable Bexley to continue to fund additional staff to work with people with drug and alcohol problems and to help get more prison leavers into treatment and recovery services.

The overall aim is that this will help reduce crime by increasing the number of people receiving structured drug and alcohol treatment, as well as improving the quality of treatment provided, which in turn helps make streets safer by getting people out of drug use addictions which is known to drive offending.

Find out more about this funding at the Government website.