Gareth Jones examines how stalemate over Brexit is affecting Scotland's third sector - and what the future may hold

It has been a long three years. Britain went to the polls in 2016 supposedly to settle a question that few outside the orbit of the Conservative Party were posing: should the UK remain in or leave the European Union (EU).

We all know what happened: leave won by a slim margin and our politics and public life were plunged into what is beginning to feel like an unending nightmare.

Certainly, Brexit is the most serious crisis the UK has faced since the Second World War.

There has been unprecedented paralysis in parliament and this has been reflected in the divisions and fissures that have opened in society, as the Brexit question has become a lightning rod for all of society’s ills.

No areas of Scottish life will be untouched by the paroxysm of Brexit – and that is the case whatever your views are on Britain leaving the EU.

The third sector is especially prone to these shocks, as many charities are reliant on European funding streams, or workers.

Continuing the doomsday theme, Mike Russell, the Scottish Government's Brexit minister, told a meeting of charity leaders at SCVO's 2019 Gathering that Brexit “feels like a shared nightmare which could take out chunks of the sector”.

The only outcome of Brexit so far has been uncertainty.

As TFN went to press, it was still unclear what form (if any) that Brexit will take. A six month extension has been granted by the EU but the threat of no-deal is still very real.

In short, there are four main areas of concern for charities in Scotland: funding, recruitment, human rights and the economy.

Many questions the sector had three years ago are still unanswered.

“The uncertainty that surrounds Brexit is causing multiple concerns for the voluntary sector in Scotland,” said chief executive of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), Anna Fowlie.

“The Westminster government has squandered time that could have been focused on damage limitation for our communities, choosing instead to bicker and squabble.

“Funding is just one element of the damage Brexit will inflict on voluntary and community organisations, and the people they serve, but it’s a very important one that the UK government could address right now. We are tired of hearing generalised statements that there will be successor funding, but nothing concrete – not even a consultation. We need more than empty promises or vague hints.”

Fowlie added that the sector will fight on no matter what happens with Brexit, however insecurity is already having a profound effect on organisations.

She said: “Scotland’s voluntary sector will do its best to pick up the pieces, no matter what type of Brexit we end up with. But we are already seeing a rise in intolerance, a diminution of trust and widening inequality. SCVO will continue to fight for our members and the people they support, but it is way past time for those in power to begin to provide answers to the many questions we have.”

Funding

EU funding benefits Scotland’s third sector significantly, with many organisations receiving vital support for a range of projects. As a result of the UK government’s chosen route for exiting the EU, the UK will no longer have access to millions of pounds of structural funding.

Scotland has benefitted from billions in European Structural Fund (ESF) money since joining the EU in 1973. The UK government has proposed a UK Shared Prosperity Fund as a replacement for the funding, but details of its format have not been forthcoming so far.

Apex Scotland, which works with offenders, is an example of an organisation that is waiting for answers on what will replace current European funding streams.

“There is a significant amount of work and services which we currently have in place that are underpinned by the ESF,” said Alan Staff, chief executive of Apex.

“Austerity is having a serious impact on local authority funding and the money that then goes out in third sector contracts. Organisations like ourselves have been squeezed. ESF funding has allowed us to double up services that would otherwise have been severely cut back. This would particularly affect deprived areas and areas of social need.”

In February, the cabinet secretary for communities Aileen Campbell wrote to the UK government to seek an urgent update and reassurance that the concerns of Scotland's third sector around funding will be properly considered, however TFN understands that the Scottish Government is still awaiting a response.

Staff hit out at those in power at Westminster for failing to work openly with the sector.

“We were promised dialogue, and that is something that hasn’t happened. We don’t know if any of the funds are going to be replaced.

“If the funding isn’t replaced, then the services will go. There are also a significant number of jobs that are reliant on the funding too.”

Economy

Uncertainty around Brexit has bred financial uncertainty.

Economists have said that a failure to achieve clarity on what Brexit will look like has led to paralysis within the UK economy.

And many fear that the economy will shrink when an exit from the European Union is finally sealed.

The Sustain Alliance, a group of organisations which campaigns for better food and farming to enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, has warned that up to 8.4 million people in the UK could be hard hit by increases in food prices created.

Inclusion Scotland has argued that disabled people are those likely to be hardest hit by Brexit.

“A no-deal Brexit could cause turmoil and hardship for many people across the UK but disabled people are at heightened risk,” said the organisation’s policy officer for Independent Living in Scotland Susie Fitton. “They are more likely to be living in poverty, have been hardest hit by austerity which the UN has said has led to "grave and systematic violations" of their human rights, and face specific threats from a no-deal Brexit.

“Deal or no deal, which of our UK party leaders is reassuring Scots disabled people that their lives will not be threatened by food or medicine shortages, and that they will work to ensure disabled people in Scotland will still be able to access social care and healthcare if there are staffing shortages as a result of Brexit?”

Fitton described the UK government’s failure to reassure disabled people as “truly shocking” and that changes brought about by Brexit are likely to leave disabled people worse off.

Human rights

The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights sets out a full range of protected human rights for people in Scotland.

However those within the third sector fear that departure from the EU will lead to an erosion of human rights for people in Scotland.

Judith Robertson, chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, told TFN: “Brexit undoubtedly brings risks to people’s rights. We are facing the loss of EU laws that protect people’s rights – including the Charter of Fundamental Rights as well as laws in areas such as anti-discrimination, consumer rights and environmental protections. The potential consequences of Brexit, right across the economy and society, also look set to have a negative impact on people’s rights in everyday life, particularly their economic and social rights like the right to food and an adequate standard of living.”

Robertson said positive and progressive actions are needed no matter what happens with Brexit, including incorporating international human rights laws directly into Scotland’s legal system, including economic and social rights and taking forward the next phase of Scotland’s National Action Plan for Human Rights, a collaborative framework for making human rights a practical reality across Scotland.

Naomi McAuliffe, Amnesty International’s Scotland programme director, said: “One thing that is clear about Brexit is in the furious debates and chaos around voting for a deal one key issue has been largely ignored – human rights.

“Rather than a commitment to ongoing membership of the European Convention on Human Rights, the UK government appears to have negotiated instead a far weaker promise that the UK will respect the framework.”

Workforce

European workers and volunteers provide a varied talent pool for Scotland’s third sector.

No industry is likely to be harder hit than any drop in EU workers than health and social care.

The Assess and Address campaign has lobbied Westminster for an independent review to be carried out on the effect Brexit will have on health and social care. More than 100 organisations from across the UK have backed the campaign, which has been led by SCVO, the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland and Camphill Scotland.

Dr Donald Macaskill, chief executive of Scottish Care, said: “The social care sector in Scotland, like the rest of the country, is desperate for some sort of resolution to the current crisis. Over 100,000 Scots access critical care services and these are at real risk from a no-deal situation.

"From issues of workforce stability, access to medicines, access to fresh food and the need for medical consumables, we have a real anxiety over whether we will be able to care for some of Scotland’s vulnerable citizens. We need resolution soon and we need our political leaders in Westminster to listen to our concerns rather than their own sound bites.”

A private member’s bill calling for the review is being led by Argyll and Bute MP Brendan O’Hara and is due to go through its second reading.