DOZENS of vulnerable people are set to benefit from a Government cash award of almost £171,000.

Young parents and people who previously lived in hostels for homeless people are among those who will be helped.

The money, from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, is to go to the Swindon Supporting People group.

The group, an arm of the borough council, has hitherto been part of a larger organisation which included the rest of Wiltshire, but from next month will cater for Swindon alone.

A total of £4.31 million in Government funds had already been allocated to cover its work in the new financial year.

The £170,723 is in addition to this, and is awarded under the so-called Pipeline Scheme for special new projects. Mike Ash, Swindon's housing strategy and development manager, said: "We are pleased with the award.

"It will be spent on schemes we have been planning to develop, and which could not have happened without this additional funding."

Mr Ash said the work of the team could be summed up as helping council tenants who required extra help to live as independently as possible from elderly people in sheltered housing to young people in supported accommodation.

The projects to be funded by the extra money are:

Two centres for young parents, one in West Swindon and one in Pinehurst, staffed by advisers and helpers and serving about 20 people at any one time. Together, they will receive about 30 percent of the extra money.

Canal Lodge, a planned six-place centre in Milton Road for those who have recently been in accommodation for the homeless but are in the process of moving on to independent living, will receive about 40 percent .

An accommodation centre for people recovering from mental health problems its location is not being disclosed will receive the rest.

Mr Ash added that funding had previously come from a variety of Government departments, but from the beginning of April the system would be simplified, with Swindon allowed to decide where and how funding should be spent.