Dismayed bosses at Home-Start say they will have to axe jobs after a major council funding cut – and now face having to turn some desperate families away.
The charity helps young families across Aberdeenshire, with hundreds regularly passing through its doors.
It prides itself on being there for parents “who need them most”.
But last week, Aberdeenshire Council voted to slash Home-Start’s funding over the next three years.
Its normal yearly grant of £232,000 will be reduced to £155,000 in a move that will save the cash-strapped local authority £77,000 every year.
The move was approved despite cries that the cuts would be “devastating”.
Mhairi Philip, manager of Home-Start Garioch, says the blow was made worse as she only learned of the cut being sealed when The Press and Journal called to ask about it.
Home-Start boss ‘suffered sleepless nights’ after decision
Home-Start bosses met for crisis talks on the future of the service in the aftermath of the council decision.
As well as Garioch, it operates North-East, Kincardine and Deeside operations.
Ms Philip told The P&J the cut to funding would result in redundancies across all of its Aberdeenshire branches.
She said: “We aren’t going to be able to cover the geographical area that we covered before, and we aren’t going to be able to support the number of families that we supported before…
“We are most certainly looking at redundancies across all four schemes in the north-east.
“And as for obtaining additional funding to make up for this… Well, I don’t know how we do that without having the financial stability of the council’s funding behind us.”
She “felt deflated” and was barely able to sleep in the days after the news was delivered.
“I’m a positive person, and my cup is usually half full, but right now, my cup doesn’t even have drips in it,” she sighed.
‘We had to turn families away while faced with uncertainty’
With things now up in the air regarding the service’s future, Ms Philip has had to start turning people away.
“I just had a call with social work up in Turriff about a referral for a family looking for support who had six children,” she explained.
“I had to contact her back and say, ‘Look, I’m not sure what’s happening. I’m not sure we are going to be able to help.’
“She phoned me back straight away and said, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do. Do you know where else I can get help for this family?’ And I said, ‘I don’t.'”
Ms Philip says social work contacts them regularly, as Home-Start is the only charity they know can help.
“The local authorities think there are all these other organisations that are going to pick up what we can’t—and there just aren’t,” she said.
Home-Start is a ‘vital lifeline’ to hundreds of desperate families
Leah Bruce, manager for Home-Start Deeside, said the most difficult part for her would be the prospect of “walking away” from families.
She said: “When you work so closely with these families, you get to know them so well, and it’s having to tell them we need to walk away now…
“They’re losing a vital lifeline, and for me, that’s the most difficult part.”
Melanie Martin, manager for Home-Start Kincardine, said families are now looking to them for answers about what’s to come, but even they don’t know.
Ms Philip believes Home-Start has provided “value for money” over the years because, despite their workload increasing yearly, the council funding has remained the same.
When Home-Start began, 95% of its running costs were covered by council funding; now, it is only one third.
“The council were getting phenomenal value for money for what they paid us and for what we did, so the cuts are a huge insult,” she added.
“There is no way we are going down without a fight. Working in the third sector is not a job—it’s a vocation. You do it because you want to make a difference.
“So this is a minor blip in the road, and we are not going anywhere because people rely on us.”
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So what’s next for Home-Start after Aberdeenshire cuts?
Following crisis talks on Monday, Home-Start bosses have pencilled in a finance meeting in the coming weeks to plan for the coming year.
Meanwhile, Ms Philip says referrals are still coming in “thick and fast”, and the service is not slowing down in their mission to help.
Ms Philip says they may need to start focusing on families where Home-Start is their only source of assistance, which is around 80% of families.
What is Aberdeenshire Council saying about Home-Start cuts?
A council spokesperson said the authority did its best to keep charity chiefs informed of the possible changes.
They said: “Officers advised Home-Start in early December that all external funding was under review and that there would be no guarantees of funding going forward.
“We were then in contact in February to advise on the budget-saving proposal to remove funding over a three-year period.
“Over the next few weeks, officers will continue to engage with Home-Start around what model of phasing out the funding best reflects their priorities and transition planning.”
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