BASW’s concern at Scottish funding cut

BASW Scotland has criticised the coalition government’s plans for major reduction in funding for Scotland, announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review last week, and called on the Scottish government to do everything it can to protect services for vulnerable adults and children.

The chancellor George Osborne announced a 6.8% budget cut for Scotland, prompting concern at the potential knock-on effect on social services.

BASW Scotland convenor Graeme Rizza said: “Confirmation of 6.8% cuts in funding is bad enough but in these hard times we need our government to do better than Westminster and show that they really are prepared to support key services to protect vulnerable people.

“Rather than simply tell us that they want public servants to ‘do their jobs properly by protecting families and the vulnerable’ we need our own government to ensure that funds for social work are ringfenced, prioritised and transparent,” Mr Rizza added.

He described social work as the most crucial and undervalued public service, which desperately needs the support of local and central government.

“BASW Scotland is working with politicians from all parties in our country to ensure that they recognise and acknowledge the importance and significance of our profession and we will step up our efforts as the CSR bites and next May’s election approaches,” Mr Rizza added.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said it could not comment on the cuts and potential impact on social work at present. “The Scottish government’s spending plans will be made clear when our own spending review is announced in mid-November,” the spokesperson concluded.