Scotland’s health minister Jeane Freeman is being urged to review a funding cut for a charity helps people employ their own carers.

Around 2200 people across Scotland access their care through self-directed support payments which means they employ their own personal assistants.

Around 500 of them are represented through membership to charity Scottish Personal Assistant Employers Network (SPAEN). During lockdown the charity took a number of calls from people not knowing where to go to for help or looking to inquire about taking on personal assistants

However, the charity was told that their funding from the Scottish Government was being cut by 50% and urged to curtail the area they cover from the whole of Scotland to just East Renfrewshire.

Early on in lockdown they also had a fight on their hands to source PPE which was eventually allocated to those with personal assistants to allow the care to continue in their homes.

SPAEN was set up in 1999 to help people to take active control over their care and support packages. Through membership, they support people with disabilities, long-term conditions or impairments to use a Direct Payment to employ Personal Assistants.

Colin Millar, chief executive of SPAEN, said: “We were heading into a pandemic and were not going to turn people away. We managed to fund the full service and offer people advice in the second quarter of the year, but from September we just would not be able to do that. With the budget cuts imposed we cannot sustain the level of support and advice and are urging the Scottish Government to review our funding deal. We applied for £120,000 of a £40billion plus budget and got £60,000. The Scottish Government have told us that if “people value the service SPAEN offers, they should pay for it”, a back door to privatisation in my opinion.”

Mr Millar said if no more funding is forthcoming then they would only be able to offer help to one in four people who employ personal care assistants and limit the area they cover.

He added: “They went on to agree that as it was unlikely we would be able to undertake the agreed workplan in a single local authority area (East Renfrewshire) and we could instead repurpose the agreed funding with an offer of the Scottish Government “underwriting” the cost of a further two full time employees that SPAEN was losing as a result of the funding cut for a short period of time as people may have additional need of our services.

Mr Millar added that when they were involved in a recent assessment the feedback was that if SPAEN didn’t exist there would be a need to create it, it was a valuable resource and represented excellent value for money.

Mr Millar added: “This really doesn’t add up to me and we are asking to it to be looked at again. We are looking for an explanation and rationale behind it. We work with one local authority which supports us with £60,000 alone to support their personal assistant employers.”

In April SPAEN sent an open letter to Jeane Freeman regarding the PPE which they received for carers to be able to visit the homes of those who have personal assistants.

The open letter stated: “Despite our repeated inquiries to the Cabinet Secretary’s office regarding the lack of provision and availability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for personal assistant employers throughout Scotland, we have still not received any response or assurance this matter is being considered and addressed with the urgency it requires.

The charity also highlighted people’s inquiries were being turned away because they are not registered care services. Mr Millar added this was in spite of repeated requests to the Cabinet Secretary to ensure personal assistants are recognised as “key social care workers.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Social care Personal Assistants (personal carers) are a key part of the social care support landscape in Scotland. They provide vital support for people all across the country. SPAEN are important partners in making sure people employing their own carers have the advice and support they need.

“Scottish Government has funded SPAEN since at least 2005, and continue to do so. The total amount they have received this year, which includes additional funding relating to COVID-19, is in line with previous funding.

“We are in regular contact with SPAEN, and have made sure they have the option to use this year’s funding from Scottish Government flexibly, so that they can enhance the support they provide to people during the coronavirus pandemic.”