A MENTAL health charity is facing possible closure after being warned its annual budget could be cut by up to 40 per cent.

Glasgow Association for Mental Health (GAMH) currently receives the money from the city council to cover part of its £2.18 million budget.

However, the council is proposing cutting the amount available to the organisation by about £875,000 and GAMH has warned 120 staff about possible redundancies as a result.

It comes as a survey commissioned by the Scottish Government revealed 26 per cent of Scots have experienced a mental health problem, with depression the most common.

Almost half of the 1,500 people questioned said that if they were suffering they "wouldn't want people knowing about it" while about two-fifths of those suffering said they had experienced some negative social impact as a result of others' attitudes.

GAMH, which works with more than 1000 people a week, is staging a rally against the cuts before the council's health and social care committee meets tomorrow.

Chief executive Jenny Graydon said: "We are not saying GAMH or mental health services should be exempt from any cuts.

"We understand only too well that the council is in a difficult position with need increasing and funding falling and we'll continue to work with the authority to salvage what we can. But to expect us to take a 40 per cent cut in our main funding source in the next six months is not what we were led to believe would happen.

"We now have to restructure by April 1, which is devastating."

GAMH was asked to assess the impact of cuts in its budget of between 20 and 40 per cent. The council has not decided GAMH's fate, but staff and the trade union Unison say they have been told the charity should expect the maximum level to be cut.

The council is believed to be concerned that many users of the charity's services are not on the books of social work. However, staff say it is because of its early intervention and support services that people's conditions do not worsen and they do not end up needing statutory services.

People who use the charity have started a campaign, GAMH Members Against Cuts, and they will demonstrate along with staff at the meeting. They have also launched a petition and postcard campaign, in a bid to stop the council sending a promised letter confirming the cut.

Workers say the cuts would end the organisation's ability to offer a city-wide service and be a false economy, resulting in people who have mental health difficulties ending up in police cells and acute beds when their conditions worsen. The lack of an early intervention service will cause some to lose housing or need expensive transport services, while the loss of a service that links recovery to employment could see people in supported jobs lose them.

A council spokesman said: "The majority of service users who use GAMH are not known to social work, but those who are known to social work will continue to be supported by social work services.

"We do not ask providers to respond to people as an alternative to receiving statutory support and if people require statutory support, that will be provided.

"The council's budget for the next financial year has still to be agreed and so decisions on ­individual funding awards have still to be taken. The council has been under substantial financial ­pressure in recent years and it has been widely anticipated that we are still expected to find further savings."