THE cuts announced to the budget for Scotland's local authorities will cost 15,000 jobs or "the equivalent of 50 Tata Steelworks", council leaders have said.
Responding to finance secretary John Swinney's announcement of a cut of £500million to councils in the next year, the body representing most authorities described the budget as "one that has been made in Scotland and imposed on Scottish local government".
Mr Swinney said "resources support" would reduce by £350m, while the grant for capital projects would go down by £150m. The finance secretary said the latter was a temporary measure.
But following an emergency meeting of Cosla, the body's president, David O'Neill said: "Whatever way they spin it, this is an 'austerity' budget of straight political choice. How else could you describe a low spend, low tax budget that will cost 15,000 council jobs equivalent to 50 Tata Steelworks to put that into some context.
"This is a budget that hits the council workforce in terms of job losses, it hits the child in care, it hits the elderly struggling with dementia and the vulnerable adults, all of whom solely rely on the support that only a council can provide.
“Make no mistake this is a budget that has been made in Scotland and imposed on Scottish local government. The 3.5 per cent cut coming to us next year cannot be laid at Westminster’s door this time around as we all know that the Scottish Government got a cash increase.
“A cut of 3.5 per cent is catastrophic for jobs and services within Scottish Local Government – because the harsh reality is that it actually translates to real job cuts that hit real families, in real communities throughout Scotland. Everyone will be hurt by this.
Glasgow, the country's biggest council and not a member of Cosla, said the cut it now faces is £30m more than £100m anticpated just a month ago.
Leader Frank McAveety met with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon over the cuts last week but said his pleas "got us nowhere".
Describing Mr Swinney as a "George Osbourne tribute act" he added: "When the Chancellor drives through austerity the Scottish Government not only passes it on to local government but heaps additional cuts to local services and piles on the the greatest pressure to the communities with the greatest need."
Facing criticism from Labour's Ken Macintosh that the cuts would leave some of society's most vulnerable at greater risk, he said key to the future of local government finance was the need for reform.
Earlier he promised one of the biggest overhauls of the public sector since the birth of the Scottish Parliament was already underway.
Freezing the Council Tax for the ninth year in a row, which he said would save the average household £1500 on a band D bill, Mr Swinney said a major slice of the NHS budget would be channelled into the integration with social care provided by councils.
Mr Swinney described the move as the most radical reform of the NHS in Scotland since its creation in 1948, he said the "old boundary of NHS and councils ceases to exist".
He said the government was about to commence consulting with Scottish councils over their own funding settlement which he said would be underpinned by reform.
Mr Swinney added the Government would continue to push for an increase in sharing services across local government and the wider public sector.
Following criticisms from Mr Macintosh, Mr Swinney said: "The key point in answering this is about reform of public services.
"We have to be able to in the financial arrangements we have available to secure a bigger impact with the resources available to us.
"That is why we are putting in £250m to create a greater social care budget. The opportunity is available to Mr Macintosh to say how he would do things different."
But Mr O'Neill added: “This budget could only have been constructed by someone who has no responsibility for service delivery and who clearly does not understand the reality on the ground or the impact it will have on those struggling in Scotland.”
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