UNION leaders have strongly criticised cost-cutting proposals for two Scottish councils to devolve control over vital services which they fear could be adopted across the country if successful.
Unison has presented a report to senior managers in both Stirling and Clackmannanshire Councils which they say raised "grave concerns" about the plans for just one of them to have complete control of education or social care services.
The moves described as the "preferred option" in council papers would see Clackmannanshire Council's education services run from Stirling, and Stirling Council's social care services from Clackmannanshire.
And the union fears a raft of redundancies if the proposals are adopted.
If the moves are rubber stamped, staff would be transferred between authorities. This this would involve staff who provide direct services like social workers, care assistants, teachers and learning assistants as well as support staff both within the services and in certain corporate services like human resources, finance and IT.
In March, the public spending watchdog, the Accounts Commission said Scotland's councils will face financial pressures "of a scale not previously experienced" in the coming years having already had to make widespread cuts to spending in this financial year.
The commission said Scottish government funding for councils had decreased by 8.5 per cent in the last four years, and many councils were reporting gaps between their income and the cost of providing services.
The two councils first agreed to co-operate to deliver education and social services in December 2010, when heads of the departments became vacant at the same time.
The councils decided to share heads of education and social services following the sharing proposal.
However the councils retained control over policy and service levels in their own areas.
Unison say that is all expected to change, leading to "grave concerns" about the future of public services in Stirling and Clackmannanshire.
Unison's report is based on a survey of 331 staff from both councils in which views were sought on what was called a 'lead council model' for shared services between Clackmannanshire and Stirling Councils.
Unison said the staff who were surveyed said that the new proposals will result in a "poorer service with potential for serious consequences" that services will "continue to deteriorate" and some staff even suggested that if the plans go ahead it will be an "unmitigated disaster".
Staff also said there will be increased confusion saying, "how will you know where to find out if you qualify for a service"; "people will be confused over who provides their services" and "they will be confused over where to go if you have any problems". Staff also said they would be confused about which policies to follow from which council.
David O'Connor, Unison regional organiser said: "The worry is this is about fundamental services.
"Other councils are sitting watching to see what happens here and what the outcome will be."
Pam Robertson, Unison's Clackmannanshire branch secretary said "Staff think these proposals will cause confusion for the public, that services will be less accountable to the public, and that local jobs will be lost.
"Council services are complicated enough to navigate and many of the people we serve are vulnerable and in need of care. They will not cope well with a change like this."
Lorraine Thomson, Unison's Stirling local government branch secretary added: "Staff welcome joint working where it improves our services to the public. But we have looked across the world to see where this type of reform has been tried before and the concerns raised by our staff are exactly what has happened elsewhere. It creates confusion, has no accountability, local jobs are lost and it ends up costing council taxpayers more for worse quality services."
The staff survey report is also being circulated to all MPs, MSPs and councillors in the constituencies.
Both councils have enlisted Ernst & Young to work on the business case for the Shared Services project.
In a joint statement the councils' chief executives Elaine McPherson (Clackmannanshire) and Stewart Carruths (Stirling) said: "We are currently looking at different options and will continue to engage with all stakeholders as part of that process.
"We respect the staff views expressed in this survey, but are disappointed that conclusions seem to have been reached while the work on the business case is still ongoing."
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