MORE than 2,500 people in Worcestershire are having taxpayer-funded help to try and wean them off drugs or alcohol addiction - with a council report citing serious concern over the prospect of more cuts.

In 2015 Worcestershire County Council handed the recovery service to an outside body, the Swanswell Charitable Trust, under a three-year deal worth £13 million.

But the funding is being reduced 15 per cent across the three-year period, despite a workload of 2,560 addicts as recently as November.

An investigation by backbench councillors has led to Swanswell being widely praised for its service, but they have urged County Hall to not turn the tap down any more.

A new report, compiled for the council's scrutiny function, reveals how the £4.2 million budget for drug and alcohol treatment is already "two per cent less" than the national average.

The report states: "The organisation has already needed to do things differently to absorb a funding cut of 15 per cent across the three-year period.

"Measures taken included less one-to-one work and more group work, fewer staff, less buildings, and reduced opening hours.

"Whilst acknowledging budget pressures, we are very concerned about the potential impact of any further reductions to the budget for specialist drug and alcohol services."

Around 50 per cent of the addicts it treats are placed with the service due to alcohol addiction, with the rest on drugs.

In 2015 just 5.1 per cent of people on the programme were successful in staying clean, compared to a national average of 6.8 per cent.

The report does say how Swanswell is managing to improve Worcestershire's figure considerably, but the latest data must be kept confidential for at least 12 months due to "strict Government guidelines".

It states: "It has been deeply frustrating to be unable to publish some of the encouraging statistics we have seen to show the welcome progress made by Swanswell and the service."

It has been discussed during a meeting of the overview, scrutiny and performance board (OSPB), where councillors said future spending must be protected.

Labour Cllr Chris Bloore said: "It's very good and positive news what's in this report, the council has worked very hard with Swanswell to give people a much better service."

Conservative Cllr Alan Amos added: "The problem is, there's never going to be enough money to deal with the problem, which is tragic because it destroys lives.

"What I'm really interested in is drilling down into the causes of addiction, because unless we do we'll have another report in front of us in a couple of years' time saying the same thing."

Cllr Richard Udall, OSPB chair, cited concern over students smoking drugs in St John's.