Exclusive by Gerry Warren

A charity which helps to look after homeless people in Canterbury has been plunged into a funding crisis which trustees say could force it to close in October.

All 66 full and part-time staff working for the Scrine Foundation have been put on notice of losing their jobs.

The crisis follows the county council’s decision to withdraw three service contracts worth nearly £600,000 from the Foundation because, it claims, quality standards were being failed.

Scrine's Board of Trustees said in a statement that it refuted the alleged breaches and planned to appeal against the KCC’s decision.

Chairman James Walker said: “The closure of the only night shelter in Kent would, I believe, be catastrophic for homeless people in the county.”

KCC senior manger for the scheme, Caroline Highwwood said: “We have been working with the Scrine Foundation for about a year to resolve the issues but there has not been the improvements we required and we have a responsibility to ensure that tax payers’ money is spent responsibly."

The trustees, county council and city council are due to meet on Friday.

Full story and reaction in this week's Gazette.