Refugee settlement challenge for council
Costs and impact on local services are still unknown
Financial and resource impacts of welcoming Ukrainian refugees to Stirling are still unclear say senior Stirling Council officials.
At a special meeting last Thursday, councillors were told it was too early to say how much expense would be covered by government funding and also how existing services such health and social care and housing might be affected.
But officers gave assurances Stirling was on the “front foot” when it came to various aspects of managing the refugee situation, with councillors unanimously giving their backing for senior officials to sanction immediate expenditure needed to help those fleeing the crisis.
There were said to be 39 sponsors locally and 85 guests so far - 18 of whom had arrived in Stirling.
In a report for the meeting, council officials said: “The information only covers the Homes for Ukraine Scheme. There have been no arrivals in Scotland through the Super Sponsor Scheme/warm Scottish Welcome at this time although it is expected that there will be a dramatic increase across the country in the coming weeks.”
The officials said the “unplanned nature” of the arrival of refugees from Ukraine made forecasting resource implications “very challenging”.
Staff resources, however, were said to have already been reprioritised and reallocated to coordinate and ensure that services “are able to respond appropriately”.
“There is significant officer resource involved,” said the report. “There are also implications for our partner organisations such as the NHS Forth Valley and we are in dialogue with appropriate colleagues.”
The council has received a “grant offer” of £238,000 as its share of the £11.2million government funding. This is aimed at increasing the capacity of the council’s resettlement team to support Ukrainian displaced persons up to a cost of £100,000, refurbishment costs for properties used to house the Ukrainians, and “to cover costs of supporting Ukrainian displaced persons to settle into local communities not already addressed by alternative funding sources”.
But given the immediate nature of the support needed, the council may have to spend in advance of receiving the funding.
The officers added: “There is concern that there remains a significant resource gap for local authorities, particularly as there is no confirmation of grant funding from either UK or Scottish Governments beyond year one of the programmes. For Stirling Council particularly, there are likely to be a number of areas which will face ongoing capacity issues - including the resettlement team, education, social work, housing and community wellbeing.”
SNP councillor Graham Houston asked if there were concerns the council might incur expenses not reclaimable through any of the schemes.
Chief governance officer Julia Mcafee said: “There are resources involved in terms of staff time and some colleagues have had to prioritise this over other projects.”
Tory councillor Martin Earl queried how much extra pressure was being felt by the Health and Social Care Partnership given that staff could be delivering a lot of the care packages and assessments involved.
HSCP chief officer Annmargaret Black said: “We don’t know what the impact is going to be yet so we will have to measure that as we go along. What we are doing is making arrangements and linking in with the councils as adult social care perspective.”
Chief social work officer Marie Valente said while much was still unknown it was hoped Ukrainian families could be supported in other ways without the need for direct social work services, adding: “There’s evidence of strong community support out there.”
Provost Christine Simpson thanked all staff involved “in the important work of supporting our Ukrainian guests”, adding: “We will continue to fly the flag of Ukraine at Old Viewforth to show our support and solidarity with the Ukrainian people.”
There are also implications for our partner organisations such as NHS Forth Valley Stirling Council