A voluntary redundancy scheme has been opened at SCVO

Job losses are looming at Scotland’s charity umbrella body as it moves to close a deficit of around half a million pounds.

Staff at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) were told that the group is looking for people to come forward to take voluntary redundancy.

They heard that every year, the body’s costs exceed forecast income by around £500,000 and that in recent years it has managed to close that gap.

However, SCVO’s board has now told senior management to take action to eliminate that deficit over the next two financial years.

Staff heard that the decision to take action now is based on a number of factors, such as core grants not keeping up with levels of inflation or pay awards, falling unrestricted income from services as a result of the difficult financial headwinds buffeting the wider sector and the low likelihood of delivering major projects on behalf of the Scottish Government in the future due to the challenging nature of public finances.

The vast majority of SCVO’s costs relate to salaries and buildings, and the organisation has already taken action on the latter by selling its two Glasgow properties and not renewing its lease on its headquarters at the Mansfield Traquair Centre (pictured above) in Edinburgh.

On staffing, the organisation has now opened a voluntary redundancy scheme for staff, with the aim of reducing staffing costs by eight per cent over the next two years.

Workers, who have also been invited to apply for reduced hours, have until 10 March to express an interest.

SCVO chief executive Anna Fowlie said: “This has been a difficult decision to make, but SCVO is no different to any other charity. We have been hit by rising costs, including the chancellor’s ill-thought through National Insurance hike. And our income is reducing because of standstill or reducing government grants and our service customers also struggling with rising costs. We can’t continue to live beyond our means.

“I believe that offering voluntary redundancy, or reduced working hours, is a fair way to make savings in the least painful way, and to keep the flexibility for us to maintain the quality offer our members and the wider voluntary sector expect. I value the contribution of every one of my colleagues and don’t take this decision lightly. But it’s unsustainable to subsidise daily running costs from reserves.”

Unite members at SCVO are meeting to discuss the situation and to formulate a response.