Life-saving charities need clarity from council on future funding - Angus Robertson

Alan Gray, Deputy CEO, Health All Round (left) and Craig Wilson, CEO, Big Hearts (right) with Angus Robertson

Whether it is supporting members of the community through difficult situations or simply a fun social environment, they can be life-changing for many people. Often, they are life-saving, like those in Gorgie and Dalry.

The Gorgie and Dalry area is served by an interconnected array of organisations helping the locals, each led by dedicated, hard-working and committed people.

One such organisation is the Big Hearts Foundation, the charitable arm of Heart of Midlothian Football Club. Since 2015, they have worked to improve lives across the local communities.

As one of the leading football charities in Scotland, recognised for the high standard of their support services and their ability to build meaningful relationships with local organisations and football fans.

They work closely with another charity called Health All Round (HAR). Offering services focusing on physical, social and emotional well-being in the community, they have been integral in building social capital and reducing health inequalities within Edinburgh.

One of the key issues they and many other local charities face is funding from the Labour-led City of Edinburgh Council, via the Integration Joint Board (IJB). They have responsibility for the strategic planning, funding and operational oversight of a wide range of health and social care services, often delivered via charities.

Unfortunately, Edinburgh’s IJB has been letting down organisations by their lack of clear planning and threats of cuts. Earlier this month, the EIJB proposed a raft of cuts that would have been existential to many of the charities operating in Gorgie and Dalry.

Thankfully, the SNP councillor representative on the IJB board, Vicky Nicolson did stellar work; successfully arguing that no cuts should be made by the Labour administration for this financial year.

However, despite these efforts, charities have told me the lack of clarity over funding for next year is equally threatening. Like any organisation, they need to know ahead of time whether funding will continue. The threat to their existence remains.

They cannot plan for the future and more to the point, they cannot reassure those whom they serve that they will be supported beyond this financial year. The jobs of the good people who work for these organisations are also at stake. It is not fair.

Should funding by the IJB not continue, hundreds, if not thousands of people in the Gorgie and Dalry area will lose the vital support they receive. The impact of this is enormous.

One of the great things about the breadth of organisations is that they are well-connected and can signpost people to the different groups who can help in various circumstances. If a small number of these organisations go under, the safety net created by these organisations fails.

The Labour administration now has a record of inaction and obfuscation. To ensure the continuation of these organisations, they need to provide the funding and clarity for the IJB to do its job supporting these vital organisations.