£7M RAID ON VICTIM FUND

Cash-strapped councils use compo cash for child abuse survivors to pay for wage rise for school staff

- PAUL HUTCHEON

COUNCIL chiefs "raided" £7million set aside for child abuse victims so they could bump up their latest pay offer to striking workers.

Local authorities were so short of cash that they struck a deal with the Scottish Government to free up the money this year.

It follows criticism that victims have been enduring delays in getting payments from the state-backed redress scheme for abuse victims.

The Scottish Government insisted the decision would have "no detrimental impact on the Redress Scotland scheme and that councils had "simply reprofiled their contribution into future years".

But Labour MSP Monica Lennon said: "It's really concerning that next year's funding for Redress Scotland is being raided in this way to help

"This is a damning indictment of the underfunding of councils by the Scottish Government and further evidence Humza Yousaf P must provide more money to give staff the pay they deserve." Schools closed yesterday in the first of a three-day strike after councils and the Unison union failed to reach an agreement on pay.

Talks on a new deal have gone on for months and Cosla, which represents councils, tabled what it called a "final" offer last week. It involved an extra £80million but no breakdown was published at the time.

We can reveal £7million of the money was originally earmarked as the contribution by councils to Redress Scotland next year.

The scheme applies to abuse that happened when the survivor was in a care setting and under 18 and provides redress of up to £100,000.

Councils previously agreed £100million of funding over 10 years to cover their share, but a paper by Cosla says next year's funds will be spent on the staff pay deal.