A 23-year-old night-time safety service has registered as a charity after seeing its funding cut earlier this year.
SOS Bus Norwich was set up in April 2001 following the death of two young people in the river Wensum and has run on Friday and Saturday nights since then, providing a safe space for vulnerable, ill or injured people and those in emotional distress.
Previously managed by other charities, the volunteer-led service lost around two-thirds of its financial backing earlier this year and had to find a new way to continue operating.
This week, SOS Bus Norwich announced that it had been granted charitable status as of 1 October and would carry on its service in the same format as before.
Becoming a charity
Until 2019, SOS Bus Norwich was managed by the now-defunct charity Open Youth Trust.
After that year, it was run by another charity, Voluntary Norfolk, which helped it transition to an independent, volunteer-led charity.
In 2023-24, the service had 38 volunteers who helped over 2,900 people, preventing 51 emergency department visits and 170 ambulance callouts.
The charity’s service includes supporting individuals whose wellbeing is threatened, aiding people to plan their safe journey home, providing medical care to the injured or ill and offering water bottles.
“All these activities reduce, non-urgent, demand on the city’s emergency services – freeing them up to attend the most urgent calls,” SOS Bus Norwich said.
“This is particularly important given the pressures on emergency and health services particularly out of hours and over the weekend.”
‘We still need around £45,000 a year’
Earlier this year, the BBC reported that SOS Bus Norwich had lost £80,000 of NHS funding, around two-thirds of its financial backing, to a new service run by St John Ambulance.
The loss of funding meant that SOS Bus Norwich had to find a new way to continue its service.
SOS Bus Norwich’s operational manager Belinda Buxton told Civil Society that before the funding cut, the service covered 104 nights a year, but has had “to reduce our cover to around 44 shifts a year because of the funding decrease”.
“Now we’re a volunteer-led charity, our costs have decreased but we still need around £45,000 a year to run the service,” she said.
“We receive from Norfolk County Council Public Health a £16,547 grant which is up for renewal in March 2025.”
Buxton added that as SOS Bus Norwich starts its journey as a volunteer-led charity, it “will continue to be a crucial part of Norwich’s night-time safety”.
“Our team of dedicated volunteers is committed to maintaining the professional high levels of support that the community has come to associate with our service,” she said.
“This service is more important than ever, and we’re excited to ensure it remains a lifeline for those in need for years to come.”
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