Writing in The Herald today, Tam Baillie argues that history shows it is a false economy to cut such services, saying: “Sacrificing support for children and young people is at best, a short-term gain and at worst, a recipe for future troubles.”
While most local authorities have yet to finalise budgets, many have published drafts or seen them leaked.
Glasgow plans to reduce funding for community learning for children with social, emotional and behavioural needs, Aberdeen is considering cutting out-of-hours social-work cover, which affect child protection cases, and Edinburgh is planning to cut all its funding for the Lighthouse project, which works with children with sexually challenging behaviour.
Mr Baillie believes some of the cuts being considered could leave councils in breach of statutory duties.
“This is not acceptable,” he said. “The UK’s last serious economic crisis was in the 1980s ... It was characterised by reduced public services and a steep rise in the level of child poverty. This poverty corroded educational attainment, health and well being.”
He called for local councils to use Child Rights Impact Assessments developed by his office to assess the true likely impact of savings being proposed.
A spokesman for umbrella group Cosla said: “Councils do not introduce or reduce services without careful analysis of the impact on outcomes. It is important to emphasise that councillors across the country will place children’s services amongst the highest priorities in their respective councils.
“But given the financial constraints ahead, there is no doubt that difficult decisions will need to be taken.”
