Charity fear new threat to funding
Work on tackling poverty will suffer say bosses
A Rutherglen charity say the lifeline support they provide to local families will be slashed if South Lanarkshire Council agree to cut their funding by £96,000 next year.
Healthy ‘ n Happy, who work to reverse the causes and consequences of social deprivation in Rutherglen and Cambuslang, say the proposed funding cut will wipe out their tackling poverty budget.
The charity – who run Burnhill Children’s club, Springhall Community Group, Handy Folk, stress management services and the Confident Kids, Healthy Choices initiative – say services such as these could go if the funding is cut.
Brendan Rooney, executive director of Healthy n’ Happy, said: “This is the most serious funding threat we have ever experienced, at a time where supporting our communities is more crucial than ever. We cannot stress with more clarity that these services will stop if this funding is withdrawn.
“It will result in loss of vital local services to our most vulnerable citizens, to our most deprived communities and will lead to a significant loss of employment and life changing volunteering opportunities for local residents.”
Healthy n Happy say the reason their services are under threat is because the funding cut is not a 12 per cent as the council suggests, but rather a 100 per cent cut and complete removal of their tackling poverty budget.
Mr Rooney said: “Tackling poverty funding, awarded to councils by Scottish Government, is critical and it allows us to attract other funding directly into Cambuslang and Rutherglen. Without this range of funding the work of Healthy n Happy will be completely undermined.”
Mr Rooney said the funding cut risked around £ 1.6million being brought into Rutherglen and Cambuslang over the next two years.
He also said the council failed to approach Healthy ‘n Happy to discuss their financial position before proposing the cut in funding, adding that they had in recent years been encouraged by council officers to adopt a business-like approach to their governance and finances.
Mr Rooney said: “Their comments on our financial position completely contradict their own advice and suggest we should dump our business- like approach and use our reserves to replace Scottish Government funding.
“This is effectively asking trustees of this charity to run down our reserves even further and threaten closure of the charity. It is by default also asking the charity trustees to effectively breach charity regulations. This is deplorable.”
South Lanarkshire Council published their draft budget on the same day Rutherglen and Cambuslang Foodbank confirmed a 60 per cent increase in demand and within days of the Child Poverty Map of Scotland showing more than one in four Rutherglen children are living in poverty.
It also came in the same month the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation revealed huge swathes of Rutherglen and Cambuslang are among the most impoverished in Scotland. South Lanarkshire Council refused to comment on the Healthy n Happy budget proposal.
But Eddie McAvoy, leader of the council, said: “The whole of the public sector is under budget pressure, and the council’s grant from government has suffered realterm cuts in recent years.
“We don’t expect ministers to tell us what our grant will be for next year for several weeks, but we are obliged to balance our budget and officers have developed plans based on savings we might have to make.
“I would stress that these are just options at the moment and that councillors will have an opportunity to examine the proposals fully and make their own suggestions. The challenge to all councillors is that if we reject any proposals in the package we need to find other, fully costed, ways to save the money.
“The bottom line is some tough decisions will have to be taken.”
To read Mr Rooney’s statement in full, see page 32.