Budget cuts could mean less money for voluntary groups. ANDY TATE finds out what this would mean for organisations which heavily depend on council grants.

VOLUNTARY groups have warned Swindon councillors that proposals to slash community grants could cost the town dearly.

The council is undertaking a budget consultation before setting the rate of council tax for this year.

It is considering three possible increases five per cent, seven-and-a-half per cent and 10 per cent.

If it opts for five per cent it says it would have to make spending cuts of £3.3m.

In a list of optional budget reductions drawn up by the council, one suggested way of saving money is to cut half a million pounds from the £1.5m in community and other grants currently awarded to a wide range of voluntary groups.

The beneficiaries of these grants include Age Concern, the Citizens' Advice Bureau, a Salvation Army rough sleepers' shelter, Swindon Women's Refuge, community and residents' associations, and youth and arts organisations.

Many of the groups have reacted with dismay at the prospect of losing significant amounts of their funding.

Some fear that they would not be able to survive if councillors went ahead with the cuts, and others say they would have to make redundancies and seriously curtail their work.

They are also warning that any savings made by cutting the community grants would be lost in the long run because the council would end up having to step in to provide many of the services currently provided by volunteers.

Jo Osorio, director of Age Concern Swindon, said: "Cuts severely damage the ability of voluntary organisations to do their jobs, and the annual round of threats makes life difficult for us to plan what we might do.

"If you reduce or cut part of a group's income it can jeopardise the entire organisation." Jenni Manners, of Swindon Women's Refuge, said: "The vast majority of organisations provide additional services to vulnerable groups of people.

"If they are shut or services are reduced, a lot of the work they do is likely to fall to other parts of the council, particularly social services, education, health and housing.

"Grants to the voluntary sector are in many ways preventative, and save the borough money in the long term.

"A £500,000 reduction in grants could cost the borough up to seven times that amount, as work carried out by volunteers would have to be done by statutory services."

Opposition councillors have reacted angrily to the proposed cuts.

Labour leader Kevin Small (Lab, Western) said: "The voluntary sector would be decimated if these cuts went forward.

"For most community and voluntary organisations the grant they get is already the bare minimum they need to survive. They're not awash with money and they make every penny count.

"The Tories don't have to go through with this, but they've never been friends to the voluntary and community sector, and for many years they've threatened to slash the budget for community development."

Coun Small said the groups' work was important and saved the council money by ensuring people in difficulty did not become a burden on social services.

But he declined to comment on the Labour group's preferred level of tax increase.

"We are still looking at what level strikes the appropriate balance between what people pay in council tax and service provision," he said.

Swindon Council leader Mike Bawden (Con, Old Town and Lawn) hinted that the council's hands might be tied by the Government.

Last week Local Government Minister Nick Raynsford wrote to Coun Bawden, threatening to use capping powers to prevent council tax being raised by anything more than "low single figures".

"It means the Government is looking for an increase of five per cent," said Coun Bawden. "The minister is making the Government's position perfectly clear.

"If he means what he says, he won't let us raise it by 10 per cent."

Coun Bawden confirmed that the community grants were "the sort of areas which might result in cuts in funding."

But he stressed that no decision had been taken.

"We have gone to consultation and want people to make their views known," he said.

Coun Bawden hit back at the opposition, saying: "The Labour Party is talking as if they want another 15 per cent rise, the same as they have had for the past two years. We believe the people of Swindon would like the lowest possible council tax increase. The charity groups should make their case."

The council tax is expected to be set at a council meeting on February 12.