Vital Care For 15,000 Is Put At Risk In Cash Crisis

Care services for almost 15,000 vulnerable people across Scotland are in doubt because of cash problems facing voluntary organisations. A report on charities providing care for 60,000 citizens, including the elderly and those with learning disabilities, has found that almost all of them have services which are underfunded.

The survey of 60 of the largest voluntary bodies providing social care has found that 89% have discussed at board level the viability of services which are in deficit because of inadequate funding.

The news comes just weeks after The Herald disclosed that the voluntary sector is subsiding local authorities by up to £130m a year, and days after the revelation that hundreds of charity workers are threatening to strike over low pay levels.

A Scottish Executive-commissioned report found that more than 70% of voluntary organisations which provide services such as social work, nursing or care services, are not recouping the full cost of the service from local authorities. The researchers indicated that this would affect the future sustainability of the voluntary sector.

Findings from the recent report from the Community Care Providers Scotland (CCPS), an umbrella organisation representing social care providers, indicate services are already struggling.

Cornerstone, a charity which provides support services for 1400 children and adults with learning disabilities across Scotland, is one of a number of voluntary organisations which has cut services and staff because they have been unable to recover full costs from local authorities.

Drug and alcohol support charity Turning Point and Ark Housing have already cancelled services in Glasgow and Aberdeenshire because they could not recoup their full costs from the councils.

More than half of the organisations surveyed said they have already had to make changes to services to cope with funding cuts and almost a third have had to reduce or stop social support for people including outings, holidays, sports and music. Almost one in five have had to reduce contact time with the people being supported.

The organisations involved in the CCPS survey employ 22,000 and account for a total income of £474m.

Some 94% said they are likely to report deficits this year and more than 50% predict they will have to make redundancies or lose positions next year because of funding shortages.

Crossreach, the social care arm of the Church of Scotland, provides a range of services for 5000 people across Scotland, including care homes for the elderly, residential support for those suffering from mental health problems, and intensive support for people with learning disabilities.

Alan Staff, the organisation’s director of social care, said they are having to deal with a deficit of about £5m each year.

“We are not prepared to cut quality,” he said. “If funding meant we had to cut quality below a level which we think is suitable for service users then we would withdraw from that activity. We have had to say there are some areas of service which we simply cannot do anymore.

“Individual local authorities are each handling this very differently. “Some are looking at ways forward and others are being very hard-nosed.”

Annie Gunner, director of CCPS, said: “We were surprised by how serious the findings actually are. We don’t want to be alarmist but we have to look at the fact there are really major problems ahead. We need to get round the table to try to sort this out.”

David Gordon, head of the Hanover Housing Association, which provides supported housing to 5000 elderly people across Scotland, said that over the past three years it has seen a deficit of £500,000.

“We are absorbing the cuts and deficits at the moment but this involves huge sums of money and we can only absorb the costs for so long,” explained Mr Gordon. “As a charity we are a not-for-profit organisation but we are regulated and do have to balance the books.”