Plans by Highland Council’s administration to cut funding to women’s aid groups across the north have come under fire from the leader of the opposition.
SNP councillor Maxine Smith fears that many families are still feeling the effects of austerity, and that further cuts will place more pressure on the already fragile service.
She also criticised proposals to cease funding to Highland Blindcraft, which employs more than 20 blind and visually impaired staff at its factory in Inverness.
Details of the budget saving proposals were revealed in a council report recently leaked to the Press and Journal.
Women’s Aid groups across the Highlands look set to suffer a £40,000 blow in 2016/17, representing a 6% budget cut.
The administration also plans to pull funding from Highland Blindcraft over the next two years in a bid to save £57,000.
The cuts would be part of a wider set of proposals drawn up by the administration to cut £56million over the next three years.
Much of the authority’s focus is on closing a budget gap of £38million in 2016/17, yet the report indicates that the administration could still be facing a deficit of more than £4.8million.
Yesterday Ms Smith said: “The SNP group are concerned about the proposed cuts to these two groups, especially Women’s Aid.
“At a time when austerity is hitting families still, this group’s services are probably going to be called upon more than usual, so we feel it’s not an appropriate time to cut them in any way.
“Highland Blindcraft does a lot of good work and this is an historic Highland community group and we should be fully supporting them.
“We need to know that they could keep going on before these cuts are made.”
Scottish Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil visited the Blindcraft factory last February and paid tribute to workers as part of a tour of social projects in the Highland capital.
Last night a Scottish Government spokesman said: “While we recognise the importance of local initiatives such as Highland Blindcraft, this is a matter for Highland Council.
“Our funding proposals deliver a strong but challenging financial settlement for local government, despite cuts to the central budget by the UK Government.”