Cuts are hitting vital services
One Parent Families Scotland’s (OPFS) flagship local service faces a 100% cut in core funding from Glasgow City Council.
An email to the charity said that funding will cease in September in light of recommendations made on the distribution of the council’s Glasgow Communities Fund.
Distressed parents who rely on support from the service to keep their head above water have been in touch with OPFS asking if the services will be cut.
It follows a raft of organisations in the city facing closure and cuts to services following changes to the council's budget.
Now, the organisation is urging parents and supporters to contact local councillors to ask them to push for the cuts to be rejected.
OPFS has been supporting single parent families in communities across Glasgow for 14 years to take up employment, maximise their income and reduce their living costs.
Four in 10 families in Glasgow are single parent families, the highest rate in Scotland. Children living in a single parent family are twice as likely to be living in poverty and OPFS says the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown has increased poverty, anxiety and distress.
Over the last six months, OPFS Glasgow has extended a range of support to almost 900 single parent households and made financial gains for those families in excess of £582,000.
Chief executive of OPFS Satwat Rehman said: “The Covid-19 virus pandemic is still creating a unique challenge for single parents and their children, as they depend on one income and don’t have the support of another adult in the home to share childcare and parenting responsibilities. We believe the expertise and experience of our community-based services will be vital in the recovery effort that lies ahead.
“In the hardest of times, our service in Glasgow has risen to the challenges thrown at us and involved parents in all our work. To weather the worst and rebuild, we need this kind of community-minded approach which is tailored to single parents’ particular needs. We, and the parents we work with, are dismayed that now, when families need it most, our vital Glasgow services face drastic cuts.”
Single parents and their children in the local areas of Maryhill, Canal, Pollok, Cranhill, Tollcross, Govan, Shettleston, Knightswood, Possil Park, Easterhouse, Bridgeton and Denniston have received vital support from One Parent Families Scotland, which is now at risk due the recommended funding cut.
OPFS is calling on Glasgow City Council’s City Administration Committee to reject the recommendation to withdraw this vital funding when it meets this Thursday (3 September).
The charity is urging single parents and supporters to contact their local councillors to express their concerns and make sure people know how much these services are relied upon by families who will bear the brunt of this 100% cut in funding.
