TOWN Halls are struggling to protect the poor from centrally-imposed spending cuts, researchers have warned.

A new study by academics and impartial Holyrood researchers found that councils planned to cut proportionally more from services that mainly benefitted the better off, such as car parking facilities and galleries, in a move to protect the most disadvantaged.

However, the huge scale of the savings imposed by the Scottish Government meant local authorities had also been forced to take an axe to services the poor depend on, such as social work and citizens advice.

In real terms, council budgets were slashed by half a billion pounds for the current financial year, while experts have warned that ministers will have to cut further in coming years if the SNP is to pay for a string of high-profile policy commitments.

The report found that only 18 per cent of council expenditure went on neutral services, used by everyone, and those used mainly by the well off. Meanwhile, around 70 per cent of cash goes on services used mostly by poor people.

Annette Hastings, Professor of Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow and a co-author of the report, said: "You can't take that amount of money out of local government without impacting on the poor, because of the extent to which low income people rely on council services.

"Taking higher rates of savings from pro-rich services is a short term measure. It's about trying to shield the poor, but given this isn't a one-off and is building on lots of other cuts and possibly more to come, that capacity to protect the poor is declining and the efficiency savings from areas like administration will very soon run dry.

"This is a warning for Scotland because you could see gaps opening up in services and people, particularly vulnerable people, could start fall down those gaps. Poor people can't exchange a service provided by the council. They can't take up a private gym membership if the swimming pool closes, they can't go to the bookshop if the library hasn't got the right opening hours. They absolutely do rely on these services."

It was found that savings to "neutral-poor, pro-poor and very pro-poor" services together make up almost 50 per cent of the total savings made. The report added: "The most deprived councils are making the highest amount of savings from 'very pro-poor' services."

Opposition MSPs raised concerns over the findings, which come after the respected Fraser of Allander Institute warned that town hall budgets could be slashed by as much as a further £1 billion by the end of the decade in part to help pay for policies such as free tuition and a boost in NHS spending.

Alex Rowley, Scottish Labour's deputy leader, said: "The SNP has hammered council budgets which pay for our schools, roads, social care and housing the length and breadth of our country. The SNP has taken Tory cuts and then doubled them for local authorities.

"This report shows that councils are trying their best to mitigate the impact of these cuts. Services relied on by the poorest take up such a large chunk of council budgets that protecting them in full is impossible while the SNP government is slashing hundreds of millions of pounds from local government."