Third Force News Article

Councils to be challenged in courts over funding cuts

27 May 2011

More charities expected to seek legal advice

THIRD sector organisations may revert to the courts in an attempt to challenge cuts to their funding taken by cash-strapped local authorities.

Groups unhappy with the criteria under which funding is being withdrawn will increasingly seek recourse through legal action as cuts hit deeper, according to legal experts.

The news comes after a charity which supports people with learning disabilities said it would seek a judicial review on a decision by Argyll and Bute Council to stop its funding.

Neighbourhood Networks plans to mount the challenge under the Disability Discrimination Act and, if successful, would have major repercussions for all other councils across Scotland cutting back on services for people with disables who are judged as having low priority needs.

At the centre of the dispute is a spat between the charityand the council over when the decision to withdraw funding was taken. While councillors say they decided at a budget meeting in February, the organisation says it was told as recently as last week that no decision had been taken.

John Dalrymple, Neighbourhood Networks director, said the council had taken an ill informed decision which was not based on consultation and was now backtracking on its story.

“We had no idea about this decision to withdraw 100 per cent of our funding yet the council insists we were informed in February,” he said.

“Their stories don’t match up and as a result we are seeking legal advice with a view to taking legal action against the council.

“They are not fully aware of the work we do and haven’t attempted to find out,” he said.

“I don’t know what they based their decision on but it is disappointing a council can act in this manner.

“Vulnerable people’s future is at stake and we have a duty to support them and will do our utmost to do so.”

Eleven schemes around Scotland are run by the organisation, linking small groups of people in supported networks who would otherwise have no means of help.

For many clients, the service is seen as essential as it often forms their only regular contact with mainstream society. It has also enabled many to go on and lead more independent lives.

Patrick McSorley, a specialist in equalities at Glasgow University and partner in a law firm, said local authorities decisions had to be more transparent and based on hard evidence if they were to avoid increasing legal challenges.

“It certainly could be the case that a council could be breaching not only its own equalities criteria but the Disability Discrimination Act by a failure to adequately support third party services,” he said.

“Budget cuts affect everyone but the key here is the distinction between essential and non essential services.

“If someone with a disability is found to have been in some way discriminated against because of lack of service provision then yes there could be recourse to further legal action.”

Michael Russell, who was last week reappointed as Cabinet Secretary for Education in the Scottish Government, has written in support of the charity. Russell, writing in his capacity as Argyll and Bute MSP, said he was “inclined to support” the plan to pursue a judicial inquiry and added:“The current service is a much valued communitybased support.”

Last week, Birmingham City Council lost a landmark case at the High Court in England, when a judge ruled that the council had acted unlawfully by cutting provision to all but those assessed as being in “critical” need.

A spokeswoman for Argyll and Bute Council said: “Council officers have held a number of meetings with managers from the Network over the last year to try to encourage them to change their model, to improve their performance to allow them to compete for new service contracts.”

http://www.thirdforcenews.org.uk/2011/05/councils-to-be-challenged-in-courtsover-funding-cuts/