Officials in SNP-run Glasgow city council have drawn up a series of “brutal” options to fill a £34m funding black hole.
Axing a holiday scheme for free food for children, withdrawing services for dyslexic pupils and scrapping swimming lessons for primary aged kids have all been flagged up.
Hiking crematorium chargers for bereaved families and cutting teaching staff are also ideas that were committed to paper.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “This is a brutal attack not just on the city of Glasgow, but on the lives of its children.
“That any council could even commit these ideas to paper confirms how out of touch the SNP administration is.
“Labour will oppose any plans that would make children the victim of the SNP’s policy of cutting councils to the bone.
“Scotland must invest in education, so we can build a better future together - it seems only Labour are committed to that vision.”
Documents seen by the Record show that Glasgow council, led by the SNP’s Susan Aitken, is facing a funding gap of £33.9m next year.
Critics believe Nicola Sturgeon’ s Government has proposed a poor budget for councils and local authorities face making swingeing cuts.
Aitken and every other council leader last year signed a letter to the Government complaining about the overall settlement for councils.
According to the documents, officials have produced options that would fill most of the black hole.
Many are likely to be seen as highly unpalatable as they would affect low income families.
One option is removing the Children's Holiday Food Programme, which provides meals to pupils outside of term time.
Cutting this scheme would save £2m and council officials argued: “As there is now new national funding sources to support holiday food and activity programmes it is proposed that the Council removes the CHFP and utilises the new national funding instead.”
Officials have also estimated that around £4m could be saved by scrapping nurture provision across the city’s schools and nurseries.
However, the document warns: “Nurture has had a demonstrable positive impact on attainment and improvements in attendance and exclusions. This would significantly impact on those children most in need.”
Another £1.4m could be saved if there is an “adjustment” to staffing ratios for additional support learning.
According to the document, reducing staffing levels for the 20,000 pupils across Glasgow who use English as an additional Language would also save £1.7m.
Other possible cuts include saving £340,000 for getting rid of the dyslexia support service and £173,000 for discontinuing a programme providing swimming to around 5,500 pupils.
More broadly, officials argue that plugging the funding gap will inevitably mean a fall in teaching posts:
“In order to meet the level of savings target required the service cannot avoid a significant reduction in teacher staffing levels. This will require a reduction of over 1,200 FTE over the three year period.”
Possible income generators include reviewing prices for bereavement services, linking the cost of resident parking permits to vehicle emissions and increasing on-street parking charges.
It is understood budget options are being considered by the political groups on the council. Glasgow will set its budget next month.
A council source said the options were drawn up by officers and are not the proposals of the SNP administration.
A second insider blamed the SNP Government for the options being floated: “Whether it is schools, cleansing or social work, no one is safe from the SNP’s brutal cuts. The austerity Nicola Sturgeon is imposing on Glasgow would make Thatcher blush.
“For 15 years the budget for the city has been butchered. The result is a catastrophic collapse in morale among staff and services failing to cope with the pressure."
Glasgow City Treasurer and SNP councillor Ricky Bell said: “Anas Sarwar is wrong and, yet again, deliberately misleading. These are not SNP proposals, as well he knows. He criticises these ideas being ‘committed to paper’ even though that’s something his Labour colleagues ask council officers to do for them."
"There’s no doubt this is a very difficult budget for Glasgow, not helped by the multi-million pound debt repayments we face every year because of Labour’s pay discrimination against women and PFI bills.
"The public can see that since 2017 the SNP City Government has committed through our budgets to improving the lives of Glasgow’s children through programmes like the Holiday Food Programme or extending free school meals. The sheer hypocrisy of Anas Sarwar to talk about Glasgow’s schools when his own Labour colleagues would have slashed teacher numbers by hundreds going into the pandemic if their budget had passed.
“We continue to make very strong representations to Ministers for a fairer deal for Glasgow and remain hopeful that as the budget progresses through Parliament, positive changes will be made.”
Scottish Tory councillor Thomas Kerr said: “Glasgow is once again set to bear the brunt of savage cuts from the SNP.
“It is truly shocking to see that it if these cuts come to pass it will be our young people and most vulnerable who will be hit the hardest.
“Our city’s vital day-to-day services have already suffered the devastating impact of SNP Government cuts that have been passed onto our councils. Susan Aitken has been posted missing instead of standing up to her SNP colleagues in Edinburgh to demand a better funding deal for Glasgow.
“Voters in Glasgow and across Scotland will have a clear choice in the upcoming council elections.
“A guaranteed fair funding deal in law for local authorities and a real alternative with the Scottish Conservatives or more deeply damaging cuts under the SNP-Green Government.”
A spokesman for the council said: “As part of the annual budget-setting process, officers develop options on where savings and investment could be considered – and also regularly update a financial forecast; taking into account inflation and the latest information on national settlements.
“Political groups will present their budget proposals next month – and it is for them to decide whether they wish to include any of these options.”
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