People living in sheltered housing have called an emergency meeting to try to block plans to cut their funding by £64,000.

Top Medway Council officers have been visiting eight complexes in Gillingham and Rainham to discuss plans to reduce its "supporting people" budget.

A government fund used to total £6 million a year, helping groups like the young, homeless, mentally ill and women at risk of domestic violence, but that was reduced by £1.1 million in April.

A presentation to residents last week said further cuts were announced in June and the budget for sheltered housing has now been cut in half.

This is likely to reduce the hours worked by wardens or "scheme managers", who make daily checks on more than 300 residents, who say they are a vital lifeline.

Lynn Korff, 62, started a petition to help her mother-in-law Lisa Banks, 83, who lives in Woodchurch House in Twydall.

She said: "She had a stroke and has short-term memory problems. She can only remember a few minutes at a time.

"They're talking about removing the scheme managers on the weekend. That means if someone has a problem on Friday they could only be discovered on Monday."

The fund was cut because it was incorporated for the first time this year into the council's general budget, instead of being ring-fenced. Councillors voted to reduce the "supporting people" fund as part of their efforts to make savings of more than 11% across the board.

Homes for Independent Living forum chairman Victor Shearman said: "The thing that hurts most of all is we've been working closely trying to find savings already and it's all been based on a false premise."

A council spokesman said: "The grant was introduced in 2002, but over the years has not kept pace with increasing costs.

"The council is consulting on proposals to ensure the services provided remain within the budget available.

"The council will target funding at the most vulnerable and is committed to ensuring that a sustainable range of services are provided across Medway for the people who benefit from housing-related support."

The emergency meeting of the Homes for Independent Living forum has been scheduled for 2-4pm tomorrow (Tuesday) at Brennan House, Victoria Street, Gillingham.