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OPFS Glasgow looks forward to detail on transition fund for lifeline services

03/09/2020

News

One Parent Families Scotland welcomes the news of transitional funding from Glasgow City Council, while awaiting detail from council officials on how this will affect our lifeline services for single parents.

The Glasgow City Council’s City Administration Committee voted unanimously on Thursday 3 September to approve all recommendations on the allocation of the Glasgow Communities Fund. This means that no funding will be provided to One Parent Families Scotland through this funding stream, which replaced the Integrated Grant Fund.

Councillors on the committee also approved plans to distribute a £4m transition fund to third sector organisations who were previously funded under IGF and will not be supported under the new fund, after many organisations including OPFS Glasgow highlighted the risk this posed to vital services.

Commenting on the committee’s decisions, One Parent Families Scotland CEO Satwat Rehman said: “We welcome the cross-party agreement by the Glasgow City Council’s City Administration Committee today that secures transition funding for the next two and a half years. It is excellent news that this fund will support organisations like OPFS which were previously funded by the council through the Integrated Grant Fund and whose applications to the Glasgow Communities Fund have been unsuccessful.

We are particularly pleased that there is recognition of the importance of services working with ‘communities of interest', of which single parents are one of the biggest groups in Glasgow and among the most severely impacted by the pandemic and resulting lockdown.

- Satwat Rehman, Chief Executive of One Parent Families Scotland

Read more

See our article from earlier this week on Glasgow City Council’s recommendation not to fund OPFS Glasgow through the Communities Fund.

Read the Scottish Government’s annex on single parent families and child poverty as part of its progress report on tackling child poverty last month. Single parent families are one of the six priority groups for tackling child poverty.

See our COVID-19 Single Parent Family Impact Monitoring Reports.

Read the briefings we contributed to on single parent families, child poverty and the impact of COVID-19 published by Public Health Scotland in August.

“Our challenge to the fund was never about the value of those recommended projects and it is great to see that funding will be in place for them imminently and without delay. We look forward to discussions about how our work will be included in the transition fund.

“We are particularly pleased that there is recognition of the importance of services working with ‘communities of interest’, of which single parents are one of the biggest groups in Glasgow and among the most severely impacted by the pandemic and resulting lockdown.

“We know single parents and their children are in a unique situation and require a specialist response. We have provided that response in Glasgow for 14 years and have supported parents to meet some of their greatest challenges yet in the last 6 months due to COVID-19.

“OPFS Glasgow has not yet had any confirmation that we will be receiving funding from the extra £4 million but will work closely with council officials to ensure that our service and the single parents we work with can contribute to the end goal of reducing child poverty and inequality in Glasgow. We look forward to sharing our expertise around early intervention and prevention, equalities and innovation, as well as involving the single parents of Glasgow in defining the priorities we should all be working towards.”

Over the last 6 months, OPFS Glasgow has extended a range of support to 1,423 single parent families and made financial gains for those families in excess of £582K. This includes:

  • Delivering 4,949 lunch packs and food parcels, food vouchers and essentials to 1,260 children and babies during lockdown worth £40,000.
  • Giving benefits and debt advice to 372 single parent families putting almost £500,000 into families’ income.
  • Assisting 837 families with energy costs amounting to £41,614 for families who couldn’t afford the cost of heating their home or cooking.
  • Giving crisis support to ensure the health and wellbeing of 833 parents and 1,333 children.
  • Giving 590 single parents advice and information on issues such as child maintenance, separating from your partner and child contact and residence issues.

Single parents and their children in the local areas of Maryhill, Canal, Pollok, Cranhill, Tollcross, Govan, Shettleston, Knightswood, Possil Park, Easterhouse, Bridgeton and Denniston have received vital support from One Parent Families Scotland.

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