Edinburgh council budget: New hope for community-based charities threatened with closure

But they warned there would need to be ongoing financial support in future to enable them to continue providing vital services, often to the most vulnerable groups.

Among the charities affected are Murrayfield Dementia Project, which provides lunch clubs and day services for those who are elderly and frail or living with early-stage dementia; Bridgend Farmhouse in Craigmillar, which runs community food projects, workshops and training courses; and Health All Round, which supports people in Gorgie, Saughton, Dalry and Stenhouse to live healthier, longer lives.

The Murrayfield Dementia Project is one of the charities losing EIJB funding | supplied

The closure threat was sprung on the charities last year when the cash-strapped Edinburgh Integration Joint Board (EIJB), which oversees health and social care in the Capital, decided the £4.5 million a year it gave to the third sector would be better spent elsewhere.

The original plan was to halt the grants mid-year, but the EIJB later agreed to continue them until the end of the financial year and then extended them until the end of June 2025.

Now Edinburgh City Council looks set to agree step in with funding for the affected charities of around £2 million when it agrees its budget for 2025/26 on Thursday, February 20.

Stephanie-Anne Harris, of umbrella group Edinburgh Community Health Forum (ECHF), said: "All the political groups are realising they have to put money into the third sector, so we are suddenly feeling much more optimistic. If they put their money where their mouth is, the third sector should get £2 million."

Stephanie-Anne Harris, of Edinburgh Health Community Forum | supplied

Some organisations have already begun preparing to make staff redundant and give notice to their landlords. And they won't be able to call a halt until they know for sure whether they are to get funding.

Ms Harris warned: "Some organisations will still be closing some services down and some still might not survive. But there is at least a bit of a lifeline and a bit of an opportunity for a reset."

If funding is approved on Thursday, proposals on how the money is shared out are due to be discussed by the council's policy and sustainability committee on March 11.

A total of 64 organisations are set to lose EIJB funding. For some the EIJB money pays for a particular service which is important but not crucial to the organisation's survival; but for others, the money pays for core staff and building costs and without it the whole operation would fall apart.

For the future, Ms Harris hopes the council will focus on more sustainable funding for the third sector and create a new grant scheme ahead of next year's budget.

Although current proposed funding has been described as "transitional", she said ongoing public funding was essential because most trusts and grant-making organisations would not offer support unless core funding was already in place.

Ms Harris said: "The organisations need the core funding to be able to get the match-funding from grants and trusts."