Cuts to services for vulnerable groups
Councils are preparing to slash services for vulnerable groups as public sector budget cuts begin to bite across Scotland.
However, many are being accused of undermining the very types of provision that are likely to be vital to reshaping public services in the long term.
With an increasing elderly population and other pressures on council funding, the need in the future will be for more services to be delivered in the community, with people given support to stay in their own homes.
Charity chiefs are warning that many of the organisations providing this sort of support on behalf of councils may not survive the current round of belt-tightening exercises.
In Glasgow, a city-wide voluntary sector network is opposing the council’s plans for grant integration, which include a target of 20% efficiency savings.
According to Glasgow Council for Voluntary Services, this may lead to the closure of several organisations and the “complete disappearance of well-established and credible names from the Glasgow landscape”.
Liz McEntee, head of external relations at the umbrella group, says: “The proposals will affect young children at risk, the elderly, people with disabilities, people with addictions, those with physical and mental health problems, minorities groups, asylum seekers and refugees and young people – and this list is not exhaustive.”
Many charities fear such a list is representative of what is happening on a wider scale. Leaked plans from Edinburgh City Council include cuts to services commissioned by their children and families department, and the council has acknowledged that some organisations may be forced to close as a result.
Youth clubs, a women’s support centre and a service for vulnerable children run by Barnardo’s are among the potential targets for cuts.
Aberdeen is consulting on a budget which, if passed, would see the closure of a residential unit for vulnerable people, while the council also plans to axe a £100,000 grant to Citizen’s Advice Scotland.
The picture materialising in other councils is similar. East Ayrshire proposes to save £20,000 by charging homeless clients for storing their possessions while they are waiting
for accommodation, while Dumfries and Galloway is considering charging social work clients more for some services and cutting the budget for classes in English as a second language.
Lucy McTernan, head of policy for the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, said: “What’s deeply worrying is that local authorities and others seem in danger of taking very short-term decisions, which could be very costly in the long term.”
