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Drugs services at risk from funding delays |
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Monday, 28 January 2008 |
Community-based drug services are potentially being put at risk by delays to funding announcements and new tendering processes.
Margot Ferguson, manager at West Lothian Drug and Alcohol Service,
which has been providing preventive and caring services in drug,
alcohol, tobacco, HIV/AIDS and sexual health for 22 years, said that
late decisions on funding from government, councils and other
organisations are putting small voluntary-run services like theirs at
risk of closure.
"As a charity, we are used to having to renegotiate our funding on a
yearly basis and the uncertainty that brings, but this year has
definitely been the worst that I can remember.
"We are coming up to February and only have one very, very small piece
of funding that’s been confirmed. Our annual budget is around £900,000
and at the moment we have got about £135,000 for services that have to
be in place by 1 April."
Unless the extra funding can be secured soon, she said, the service
will be forced to close, making 25 members of staff redundant.
"Without knowing whether we will get the funding in time, we have to
start thinking about what happensif we don’t. People forget that we are
bound by employment legislation as well as everyone else so we have to
issue 90-day notices to the staff.
"It is testament to the quality of staff we’ve got here and their commitment to the service that they’ve said they will wait."
But it is not just about the staff, said Ferguson. "What happens to the
1,800 people who come through our doors each year? We’ve been working
with the community for more than 20 years. What happens to them?"
While she said she was not trying to apportion blame for the service’s
current financial woes, it did place it in an untenable position "and
it is because of the way councils and other bodies and the Government
make late decisions that really impact on us."
In particular, she said, the delayed Scottish Government budget
announcement, councils not having to announce their budgets until
February, the decision to end ring-fencing of certain services and to
freeze council tax, and European legislation on tendering have all had
a knock-on effect for voluntary organisations' funding.
The tendering process in West Lothian has been especially difficult, Ferguson said.
"What’s happened is that there are now more people competing for the
same pot of money and the result is there are around £2m worth of
tenders on the table for about £935,000 worth of funding available."
While she said the process has not been easy for anyone involved
because it is new, she said that it had been particularly difficult for
small voluntary organisations like theirs that don’t have the
infrastructure in place to deal with it.
"Some of the big guys we are up against have people dedicated to putting in tenders,
while we are trying to run services as well as putting the tenders
together. It’s taking up all our lives and there is no guarantee it is
going to be successful."
With no clear idea of when the result of the tender is to be announced,
Ferguson said that staff were just waiting to find out if they will get
the funding they need to continue.
"It will have to be some time within the next six weeks because the
services are due to start in April but we have no idea when exactly."
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Last Updated ( Monday, 28 January 2008 )
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Holyrood magazine 
