Real cuts, right now
Posted on Tuesday 15 February 2011
Care and support budgets in Scotland's third sector are being cut radically, threatening services and jobs in many local authority areas. Providers report that across-the-board cuts of between 4 and 20% are being imposed by councils including Inverclyde, Edinburgh, Scottish Borders, Fife and Glasgow.
These cuts take no account of the significant reductions in operating costs already made by third sector providers in recent years, in respect both of efficiency savings and of difficult decisions about staff pay, terms and conditions. Neither do they take account of the consistently higher quality of care and support provided by the third sector, as demonstrated by Care Commission gradings.
Perversely, these blanket cuts can put the most efficient and effective services at greater risk of becoming financially unviable than the services that have not taken such measures.
CCPS wrote to the Herald in early February to highlight the damage that disproportionate and indiscriminate cuts are likely to bring about: it is also writing to local authorities, urging them to protect high quality third sector services that achieve good outcomes for people and operate efficiently, rather than rush into 'panic' cuts that take no account of quality or value for money.