Glasgow City Council under fire for axing secret £1.6m meals for homeless contract

The SNP council leader Susan Aitken has been accused of "hypocrisy" over the cuts after she made a pre-council elections attack on the UK government for cutting the £20 Covid Universal Credit uplift and "plunging may thousands of Glasgow families into hardship.

She said: "The SNP city government has put tackling poverty at the heart of our agenda throughout our first ever council administration in Glasgow. Unlike some others who like to talk about social justice and addressing poverty, the SNP actually delivers."

The Covid deal was set up with Well-Fed (Scotland), a "private" community interest company based in Glasgow with an aim to "alleviate food poverty and social isolation in the west of Glasgow".

Two weeks ago, the council said that no savings had been made by removing the "vital" meals to up to 600 homeless people in temporary accommodation.

It has emerged the council had to pay out £520,309 to Well-Fed for the provision of meals to homeless residents in accommodation in 2020/21 and a further £1.134m in 2021/22.

The homeless meals awards, which did not go to public tender, have not been published, and the city council has said they are "commercially sensitive" and will not be shared.

The Scottish Tenants Organisation has the meal cuts "cruel, barbaric and inhumane", called for the decision to be overturned and fears that the secret awards were "illegal".

Alex Neil, who was also formerly the SNP's social justice secretary said: "The council should reinstate the meals as soon as possible as a matter of urgency.

"Because clearly, at the end of the day, if you look at raw economics, it would be cheaper for the public purse to ensure people get a proper meal every day, rather than deal with the consequences of people going starving. "From a humanitarian point of view it makes common sense to continue to guarantee these people a square meal every night for their own health and well-being.

"I don't understand the rationale at all.

"I would bet my bottom dollar that their well-being will have improved. Their chances of getting back into a better position is enhanced enormously by being fed properly. That is a prerequisite to getting people back into the situation where they lead a normal live rather than live on the street."

As of last week, there were 531 homeless people in hotels and bed and breakfast around Glasgow, just 86 fewer than the peak in October, 2020.

According to public body procurement regulations, if a direct award is made, a contract award notice must be published on the Public Contract Scotland (PCS) website within 30 days of awarding the contract.

Asked why the deal was not published, the council said the award was made under "delegated authority" - meaning it was not sanctioned by councillors - by extending an existing Well-Fed contract to provide hot meals to vulnerable families before the pandemic.

The council said it did not go through a tender process because they were seeking a "quick turnaround and solution" during the pandemic.

Scottish Government pandemic money would go towards the payment of the service.

The council was unable to say what budget if any had been set for the meals for the homeless, and were unable to say what price was on offer from Well-Fed in advance of accepting their services. It is understood no other contractors were approached to compare prices to ensure value for money.

Colin McInnes of the Homeless Project Scotland charity said the use of its soup kitchen more than doubled in one night after meals were axed.

"They told us they have stopped giving us our dinner," he said. "We wondered what on earth was going on.

"To take this away overnight is horrendous. The meals used to be dropped into hotels and hostels in the city and it makes no sense to to stop them."

The council said the the food provision was brought in on a temporary basis at the start of lockdown when other food services were closed.

The meals were stopped in consultation with service users who said they preferred breakfast and lunch adding that there had been "a lot of wastage recently" due to a drop in demand for the evening meal.

It came after an "engagement process" was undertaken with an unspecified sample of residents, third sector staff and hotel staff "to gather views on the uptake of meals".

The council said: "It became apparent that a lot of wastage was being witnessed and this was due to services – paused during the pandemic – being back up and running from the end of last year."

Sean Clerkin, campaign co-ordinator of the Scottish Tenants Organisation said the cuts had driven more homeless people back onto the streets of Glasgow as rough sleepers.

"The SNP-led council has to reinstate the hot evening meals for homeless people in temporary hotel accommodation in Glasgow to avoid the homeless suffering starvation and malnutrition in 2022 because if not they stand accused as hypocrites in that the same SNP were condemning the Tory cuts to Universal Credit to the poor in society.

"The organisation Well Fed has a deal to feed the homeless in Glasgow and the notice and it’s details have not been published. It is feared this is illegal in that we do not know the financial cost of these meals."

The latest financial statements of Well-Fed, which was established in 2017 to reuse surplus food to support local people, do not reference any council contracts. Its members have not required the firm to obtain an audit of its financial statements.

They show that in 2021, £82,577 was advanced to directors while £74,565 was repaid, while there was an outstanding balance of £33,411, up from £25,399 the previous year.

On its website it says that during the pandemic its kitchen "produced thousands of meals every day to feed people in need across Glasgow".

It said: "Our service was a lifeline to struggling households and was often the only connection they had during such a challenging time."

The Herald on Sunday approached Well-Fed director Christopher Gray for comment, but would not talk about the arrangements and referred us to the city council.

The council said: "Well Fed was working for the council pre-pandemic offering hot meal provisions to vulnerable families and is on the council’s procurement framework, meeting our best value conditions and offering a flexible service to meet the required provision.

"The contract was with Well-Fed through previous work with Financial Inclusion Services and NW Alcohol & Drug Recovery Services.

"Well-Fed was able to offer the council value for money and meet the required quick turnaround and flexibility to meet the resident’s vital needs during the pandemic and ongoing restriction over the last two years.

"Most third sector organisations withdrew food provision as their doors were closed."

A council spokesman added: “Scottish Government funding has been used to provide the additional meals during the pandemic but as we move towards transitioning out of the emergency response we are now working with partners across the city who provided food pre-pandemic and who are starting up again now that restrictions are lifted.”