Short-sighted ethically and financially - IBJ must pull back from the brink
Below is the text of a letter sent by Anna Fowlie, chief executive of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), following a proposal to pull £700,000 in the current year and £4.5 million next year from health and social care charities in Edinburgh - putting 64 groups and hundreds of jobs at risk and endangering vital services. It has been sent to Councillor Cammy Day, leader of City of Edinburgh Council and Professor John Connaghan, chair of NHS Lothian.
Dear Cllr Day and Prof Connaghan,
I am writing to add SCVO’s voice to the protests regarding the Integrated Joint Board’s (IBJ) proposal to withdraw funding in-year from charities and community groups. Thirty seven of our members are impacted by this decision.
The intention outlined in the board paper to take a more strategic and collaborative approach in the future has been totally undermined by the impact of reneging on this year’s grant funding.
Trust is a fragile thing, and it will take a long time to rebuild any sense that the council and the health board have an understanding of, or respect for, the voluntary organisations that do so much to support our communities. When you look to build your strategic partnership in 2025, many of them simply won’t be there because they will have gone out of business.
Far from saving money, this will generate significant costs to public services as people fall through the cracks, and the additional millions of pounds voluntary organisations bring in from trusts and foundations or the private sector through match funding and other fundraising activities will disappear. A truly strategic approach would be looking to maximise that income-generation, not cut it off.
It appears that over 100 people who were already in a precarious enough position will lose their jobs. And the discretionary effort of hundreds more volunteers will be lost.
It is evident that when money is tight, which I recognise it is, the council and the health board have retrenched and focused on short-term savings rather than the public good. The table in the board paper which illustrates where the money could be “better spent” says it all – to the IJB, acute services matter more than prevention or early intervention.
As well as being short-sighted ethically and financially, it flies in the face of all the evidence around what communities need and the rhetoric around person-centred services and prevention.
I would urge you to intervene and stop the IJB making a decision everyone involved will regret.
Anna Fowlie, chief executive, SCVO.
A demo against the cuts takes place at 9am on Friday, 1 November, outside Edinburgh City Chambers. Click here for more details.
