Alert on threat to rape victim advice service as staff quit

An advice and support service for rape victims and women who have faced sexual violence is being wound up as more than half its staff quit in a cost-cutting drive.

Glasgow-based Breakthrough for Women is closing as four of its seven staff are taking an early retirement package offered by the city council in its bid to drastically reduce costs.

The move is already sending shockwaves through other agencies involved in assisting victims of gender-based violence, with fears they could be pushed to breaking point due to increased caseloads.

The move is worrying unions, who fear the decision to close the service has been made because of staff numbers and not for strategic reasons, sparking concern that this could happen to other key services.

The city council has said no final decision has yet been taken on the future of the service, which is run by social work, but other organisations are already taking on referrals that would otherwise have been sent to Breakthrough.

Experts say moving victims of sexual violence to counsellors can have a detrimental impact on recovery.

Opposition politicians and trade unions are now calling for the service to be retained internally, although this option is understood to have already been ruled out despite it dealing with more than 100 cases a year.

The move comes as more and more council employees take up the option of quitting the authority, which is shedding at least 4000 posts over the next three years.

Enhanced redundancy packages have been offered to staff aged over 50, and the four at Breakthrough for Women are expected to leave this month.

Breakthrough provides counselling for women over the age of 16 who have been involved in either childhood sex abuse, rape or sexual violence.

Pamela McElhinney works for Glasgow East Women’s Aid.

She said organisations like hers would struggle to deal with increased casework stemming from the closure.

McElhinney said: “We have already had cases from Breakthrough for Women. Of course we will take these on, but we are already financially stretched and without assistance increased cases could have a serious impact on us and similar organisations.”

Brian Smith, social work branch secretary for Unison, said: “The demand for the service remains and is valued by the women who use it, other frontline social work staff and other agencies.

“We hope that the council demonstrates its commitment to this group of vulnerable women by continuing to offer the current services.”

James Dornan, of council’s SNP group, said: “This appears to send a clear signal that the council have skewed priorities in the search for savings.”

A spokesman for the council confirmed the applications for the four redundancies and added: “In these circumstances the project cannot continue in its current form, although a final decision on how the service will change has not yet been taken.

“However, the number of referrals to Breakthrough is modest in comparison to the total numbers of cases involving violence against women which are dealt with by social work staff in area teams across the city. “