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Edinburgh Integration Joint Board – the Edinburgh TUC deputation

November 1, 2024 11:55 am

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Des Loughney the Secretary of the Edinburgh Trade Union Council (ETUC) made this deputation to the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board on Friday morning.

The EIJB had proposed making cuts of £4.5 million to their budget. This was wholly made up of payments to 60+ third sector organisations who carry out some of the vital work for people who need help whether they are young or old, disabled or sick. The list of bodies whose funding was put at risk is below. The EIJB is meeting on Friday to discuss ways of avoiding the cuts at this time.

Mr Loughney said: “I would like to thank the Board for agreeing to hear our deputation which will comment on items 7.1 and 7.2 on your agenda. There are three people on our deputation myself, Des Loughney, Secretary of Edinburgh TUC, Kathy Jenkins, a delegate to Edinburgh TUC and Liz Taylor, a delegate to Edinburgh TUC, who also works for a third sector social care provider.

“Given the time limits we will each make a few points and will call on the Board to reject the flawed Report that represents item 7.2. We hope that you will ask officials to think again.

“The first point I wish to make is that the financial context in which the Report was drafted has changed within the last two days. We are informed by the Chancellor that:

“there will be an £1.5bn in extra spending for the Scottish government this year and an extra £3.4bn in the year leading up to the Holyrood election in 2026.”

“It is expected that some of these monies will be spent on services that are overseen by the EIJB.

“My second point is that I believe The Scottish Government (and the City Council) expect the EIJB to manage change properly in a way that is consistent with Scottish Government policies.

“These imply that before there is any major change there is consultation with the public, third sector providers, users and carer’s both paid and unpaid. There is supposed to be every attempt to avoid compulsory redundancies by consultation with the relevant trade unions. It the Report were to go ahead it is estimated that 150 people, who are skilled and experienced workers, will be paid off. There is no consideration given in the Report to the implications of disposing of such a skilled workforce.

A cost benefit analysis of such an action is a lot more complex than the Report makes out.”

LIST OF AFFECTED ORGANISATIONS

The first list is of organisations which get other funding from the EIJB.

Autism Initiatives: £76,594
Care for Carers: £66,967
Caring In Craigmillar: £89,921
Edinburgh Headway Group: £42,775
Edinburgh Leisure: £129,892
Eric Liddell Centre: £24,052
Hillcrest Futures: £87,588
Health In Mind: £12,053
Libertus Services: £138,348
Lothian Centre for Inclusive Living (LCIL): £18,788
Queensferry Churches Care in the Community: £41,072
Rowan Alba Limited: £46,742
The Broomhouse Centre The Beacon Club: £50,807
The Open Door Senior Men’s Group: £5,586
VOCAL: £48,766
Waverley Care: £177,754
CHAI: £313,901
Citizens Advice Edinburgh: £313,897
Granton Information Centre Consortium: £313,904

The groups below do not receive any other funding from EIJB. These providers account for around 2% of the total third sector spend. And the report states that EIJB do not know “what other sources of funding these organisations receive from outside the EIJB”.