Edinburgh’s health and social care partnership has voted against proceeding with plans to bring forward the end date of its £4.5m grant programme, after the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations warned that proposals put more than 100 jobs at risk.

The Edinburgh Integration Joint Board, which directs the city’s health and social care partnership, has decided not to proceed with the proposed in-year savings to its third sector grants following backlash.

The board has scrapped plans to bring forward the end date of the EIJB’s £4.5m grant programme by two months, from March to January – which would have given charities just 90 days’ notice of cancellation.

The EIJB was also considering plans to scrap the programme, which funds 64 charities, in 2025/26, due to a forecast £50m deficit in its finances for the coming financial year. 

A decision on this proposal has been deferred to a later date, as the EIJB considers its options alongside its partners.

The in-year plans to bring forward the programme’s end date were scrapped after SCVO’s chief executive, Anna Fowlie, wrote a letter to councillor Cammy Day, leader of the City of Edinburgh Council, and professor John Connaghan, chair of NHS Lothian, urging them to stop the plans.

Fowlie warned that 37 of its members would be impacted by the decision, adding that the plans put more than 100 jobs at risk. 

“Far from saving money, this will generate significant costs to public services as people fall through the cracks, and the additional millions of pounds voluntary organisations bring in from trusts and foundations or the private sector through match funding and other fundraising activities will disappear,” she said.

“A truly strategic approach would be looking to maximise that income-generation, not cut it off.”

The EIJB met to consider the proposals on Friday (1 November), while a demonstration against the cuts took place outside Edinburgh City Chambers, Third Sector understands.

The board decided not to proceed with the in-year savings and will have further discussions about ways to address the £50m funding gap it has forecast for the coming financial year, Third Sector understands.

Katharina Kasper, chair of the EIJB, said: “The EIJB has listened to voices across Edinburgh and has voted not to proceed with in-year savings to third sector grants at this time. We have also agreed that the long-term underfunding of the EIJB cannot continue.”

She said the EIJB has committed to working with third sector partners alongside its partners in the City of Edinburgh Council and NHS Lothian to “find a way forward which supports charities across the city”. 

Kasper said: “The EIJB’s budget deficit, which was inherited from its partners in 2016, remains, with £60m savings required this year and £50m next year. 

“The EIJB has a legal duty to protect core services such as care homes and drug death prevention services. If a solution cannot be found we will have to come back with a recovery plan to make these savings.”