News emerged over the weekend that under new and controversial funding arrangements, five Citizen’s Advice Bureaus (CABx) in the East End of Glasgow are set to lose essential funding from Glasgow City Council.

The Glasgow Community Fund, set up to fund the city’s burgeoning third sector, is facing a budget deficit of £87 million. Previously this money was ringfenced for the city’s advice services, rape crisis centres and women’s aid but Glasgow’s SNP-led council have opened up this funding to more organisations, meaning that cuts will have to be made. Elected in 2017 on a platform of being a “true city government” and accusing the Labour administration of “letting down” Glaswegians, the move to close CABx has predictably drawn heavy criticism.

The fallout will disproportionately affect working-class communities in the East End of Glasgow. Castlemilk, Parkhead, Easterhouse, Bridgeton and the City Centre’s bureaus face closure on October 1st. They are located in areas that are among the top 5% most deprived in Scotland, according to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.

Areas like these are remote from the opportunities in the city centre. The East End has been left behind by decades of deindustrialisation, privatisation and austerity. It has created apathy and high levels of deprivation. The number of people in Glasgow claiming Universal Credit has risen by 60% since the coronavirus pandemic took hold. But the claimant count in Glasgow has been rising since well before coronavirus, according to statistics from the Department of Work and Pensions. With more jobs set to be lost after the furlough scheme comes to an end, the number of people who will require access to the services that Citizen’s Advice provide looks set to increase.

CABx across Glasgow do essential work serving working-class communities. According to a report in the Glasgow Times, they helped over 27,000 people last year. 72% of people receiving help from CAB in Glasgow were living in 20% of the most deprived areas in Scotland. The network in Glasgow brought in more than £24 million in generated income, far more than they cost to run. According to Rob Gallagher, chief executive of Glasgow North West CAB, that’s a return of £14 for every £1 that is invested in Glasgow’s CAB network. 

CAB provides a lifeline for people in working-class communities. It certainly did for Mary-Jane. The Department of Work and Pensions deemed her mother “fit for work,” against advice from her doctor and nurses. Mary-Jane’s mother was forced to claim Jobseekers Allowance. “If it wasn’t for CAB, she would probably have died because of that ridiculous check-box system,” Mary-Jane says.

She was left in poverty and destitution, and I remember when her appeal came round, and she won. She burst into tears. She would not be here today if it wasn’t for the hard work of the CAB. The DWP, would have put her in an early grave. We need these services. Absolutely heartbreaking to think they’re doing this.

With the help of CAB, Mary-Jane and her mother launched an appeal against the DWP. She is now being helped with housing issues by the advisors who work there.

If the East End’s CABx close down, years of knowledge, skills and experience will be lost. Not only are working-class communities losing a valuable service, but dozens of dedicated and highly trained advisors are facing job losses. Because the funding plans were only announced last week, advisors found out they could be losing their jobs from a newspaper article.

There was no redundancy consultation, no feedback on why organisations were denied funding. Stephen Campbell, an advisor at the Greater Pollok CAB warned in an open letter that, if cuts go ahead, “advice services in Glasgow will become little more than a telephone helpline and a website, turning advisors into call centre workers and losing decades of frontline experience, while remaining inaccessible to the most vulnerable.”

The council has created a system where a rape crisis centre and a citizen’s advice bureau have to fight over scraps from the table. It involves more bureaucracy and red tape for less funding and resources. Glasgow City Council has been treated like a live action role-play of the American sitcom “Parks and Recreation” under the tenure of the SNP. They have treated the council coffers like their own personal bank account. Their attempt to spin this positively has failed. This essential funding was called “discretionary”. It is not discretionary. Councils have a legal obligation to run advice, legal and representation services. Convener for Community Empowerment, Equalities and Human Rights Jennifer Layden said that “this is not about a reduction in support, but an increase in applications – with bids worth more than £135 million received from across the city.” This is so audacious, even Alistair Campbell would blush.

This afternoon, Glasgow City Council announced a £4 million “transition” fund for organisations that missed out on funding from the Communities Fund. But 136 organisations are vying for this funding, including the five CABx that missed out. They have been given no guarantees that they will receive funding from this. It is also not clear what this is a “transition” to or from, or what support organisations will be given in the immediate future. The SNP owe a great debt of gratitude to the East End of Glasgow, it is a huge electoral base for them. The final decision over the proposed funding cuts will be made at a full council meeting tomorrow. The least SNP councillors could do for a community who are a crucial part of their success is keep their CABx open.