At a meeting on Mon 18 Mar 2024, Edinburgh’s Health and Social Care Partnership submitted budget proposals for 2024/25 that will result in an astonishing cut to funding for the community and voluntary sector in the city – £1.4m, out of a £700m budget, where there were other damaging cuts. You can watch the broadcast here.
EVOC and member organisations know there is much less money in Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership (EHSCP), population pressures are not being reflected in the allocation of funding to the city, and also severe challenges across Scotland. We were proud however to stand alongside others in the sector at that meeting to highlight the impact of taking £1.4 million out of the community sector in Edinburgh – it results in a much greater financial loss based on the return on investment our sector provides.
We also put a spotlight on the consequences for people and communities in Edinburgh of undermining the community organisations that provide vital support systems – more carers will go into crisis, mental health concerns will grow in those vulnerable people whose community support is reduced, homelessness will rise in a city that has already declared a housing emergency and waiting times in A & E will continue to increase. A mainly female unpaid work force of carers will take the brunt of this.
This is also not the old call for more money for charities.
Community organisations face increasing costs to run their buildings and pay staff, so some organisations will be more fragile, and may even close if cut. There will be a loss of volunteers, and significant redundancies. Again, a mainly female workforce, un-unionized, will also take the brunt of this. They will have less pension over a life-time and minimum redundancy packages. Tax is what funds these services and this is public money which comes from the very communities where this support is offered.
More than 2,500 local charitable organisations in Edinburgh build relationships with our most vulnerable communities. These relationships deliver Scottish Government’s ambition for the ‘right service in the right place at the right time’, and build communities. Collaborative by default, our work is cost effective. Every £1 spent saves a minimum of £5, and the evidence and academic backing for this is extensive -rising to £7-£12 in some areas of work. Weakening this infrastructure significantly increases failure and accelerates wasteful ‘revolving door’ experiences. The State still pays, but more. The Auditor General in Scotland highlights the need for reform in health and social care:
‘Without change, there is a risk Scotland’s NHS will take up an ever-growing chunk of the Scottish budget. And that means less money for other vital public services.’
During COVID the community sector kept its doors open while many services closed. Many staff and volunteers made severe personal sacrifices to protect and support people and save lives. Together we asked the EHSCP Leadership Team, NHS Non-Exec Directors and City Councillors to learn from COVID, and pause this cut. We asked them to look at other possibilities, offered to work collaboratively with senior staff to explore and negotiate possibilities that would result in transforming partnerships. To truly work with the people of Edinburgh, from volunteers to staff, and Trustees, who sit on the boards of these organisations. This ultimately fell on deaf ears and will likely result in another poor health and social care inspection for Edinburgh.
For Edinburgh’s communities, the impacts of the EIJB cuts are very serious:
- Substantially increasing child poverty risk in low income families
- Raising unemployment among women, including female carers, driving up welfare costs
- Rising risk of increased demand on A&E and hospital waiting times
- Deepening homelessness in a city with a worsening ‘Housing Emergency’
It now feels like we cannot look to these boards across Scotland to look after community and voluntary organisations, and in turn the role people and communities can play. This was not a decision made based on the best evidence available and also spotlights a deep issue around the imbalance between the statutory and community sector – far from ‘parity of esteem’. Yet, we want to work collaboratively.
Asks of Edinburgh Partnership Board
At a local level we plan to call for an urgent focus on this at Community Planning, the Edinburgh Partnership Board, to try and prevent local staff being made redundant and prevent organisations closing as result of these rushed decisions. In our experience community organisations very rarely re-open once they close.
We will also ask why democratic oversight of this is not working? Councillors of all parties wanted more options. They had no choice however to even just pause the cuts in funding to support what communities do for each other. The valuable Christie Commission in Scotland (2011) looked at ways of working across communities and public sector, and we saw no evidence of in this decision. Edinburgh’s Health and Social Care Leadership Team had the chance to be brave and different, and they did not take it – to the detriment of the people and communities of our city.
Asks of Scottish Government
At a national level, we will be asking the Scottish Government to make it obligatory for public partners to allocate a portion of their budget into protected and pooled investment funds for communities – this would be focused on delivering better synergy around the idea of a sector investment prospectus and building on the work on Community Wealth Building across Scotland.
We call on Scottish Government to build on what works:
- Delivering on the Auditor General’s call for a new national vision for health and social care by building on the Edinburgh approach of community co-production done well
- Building a Community & Third Sector Investment Prospectus by obliging public partners to allocate a portion of their budget into a pooled multi annual investment fund for communities, building on innovation already developing, such as Edinburgh’s Regenerative Futures Fund
- Reform the community and third sector service commissioning process, long term, such as outcome focused funding models in partnerships in Edinburgh like Thrive Edinburgh
- Work with Community Planning Partnerships to build Asset Management Plans, making it easier for community organisations & third sector to access public assets and reduce overheads
Conclusion
This needs deeper action across the country, as multiple decisions are being made that will result in unprecedented extensive loss of capacity in the community and voluntary sector. And in Edinburgh, the leadership of Community Planning now has the chance to be brave and different, let’s take it. Let us act to support communities and enable NHS and health and social care staff locally to not be overwhelmed. Let us begin to start to work together, bravely, agilely and transformatively.
Bridie Ashrowan, Chief Executive
