Local organisations call for more support from Scottish government

Local organisations in Edinburgh have said that the Scottish government must do more to help them meet the needs of their communities during the pandemic.

Pauline Bowie - Director at LIFT

Although organisations are grateful for the support they do receive, some have said that funds have already dried up and that they are facing an epidemic of need in their areas.

Low Income Families Together (LIFT) in the North of Edinburgh has been assisting families with one to one support.

LIFT are offering a variety of services including food delivery, one-to-one emotional support, benefits and employability support as well as online family activities such as cook-along-with-Peter.

John Beatson, programme manager at Goodtrees Community Centre.

Pauline Bowie, director at LIFT, said: “We have so many families in precarious positions of having just lost jobs or are unable to access support in an emergency. People are phoning us in tears and desperate because they cannot access immediate support for a variety of reasons.

“It is not our job to do some of the things we are having to do. In my opinion the government must do more and they should have been better prepared.

“This is not just families on benefits but instead we are seeing so many working families struggle who are unable to access the traditional means of assistance.”

John Beatson, programme manager at Goodtrees, said that the centre was extremely grateful for the government support they had received.

But he added: “The funds have mostly dried up at this point and ultimately it is boots on the ground organisations that are stepping up to meet the needs of families, the elderly and vulnerable individuals.”

Most community organisations have welcomed the government’s support in certain areas but ultimately say that they feel it is not enough to meet the immense needs of people who need emergency assistance now.

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “We have committed over £500 million of additional investment to support people and communities impacted by the COVID pandemic, including over £130 million specifically to tackle food insecurity. As part of this we have provided over £16.5 million so far to people and local community groups in Edinburgh to support those in need with food and other essentials.

“Additional funding has been provided to local councils to tackle financial insecurity, the self-isolation support service and to help people impacted by restrictions. We would encourage anyone who requires support, including to access or afford food and essentials to contact the Freephone national helpline on 0800 111 4000.”

The government added that they continue to apply a cash-first approach to tackling food insecurity in Scotland.

They also say they have announced a ‘Winter Plan’ for social protection, including a £100 Winter Hardship Payment for children in receipt of Free School Meals, a further £5 million of funding for children’s charities and £23 million for services supporting vulnerable children.

The government added: “We have also made £40 million available to support community and third sector organisations through our new recovery programme, providing funding to support access to food and mental health and wellbeing among other key services.”

The government will also start payments of the new Scottish Child Payment for children from low income households under six – worth £10 per child per week.Anyone seeking support should visit the government website: https://www.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/ or call 0800 111 4000.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.