STAFF in Glasgow’s homelessness teams are suffering with the “emotional toll” of “unprecedented” demand for services, a union has reported.
Unison has issued a health and safety notice to senior management in the city’s Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) due to “immediate concerns for the wellbeing of union members”.
It comes after Glasgow declared a housing emergency last month, when more than 5200 live homelessness cases were reported.
Union members have been advised it would “not be unreasonable” to refuse to accept more cases if “immediate remedial action is not taken”.
Chris Sermanni, Unison’s social work convener, said there are “significant concerns for the immediate wellbeing” of members due to the housing crisis.
He added: “A grievance was submitted in May in an attempt to engage in constructive discussion to address these concerns, however, no agreement has been reached, and the situation has deteriorated further.
“We have had no choice but to advise our members of their right to protect themselves under health and safety legislation.”
A spokeswoman for the HSCP said officials have met with the union to discuss the concerns and extra staff are being recruited.
Cuts to funding for emergency accommodation mean the HSCP regularly breaches its statutory obligation to accommodate service users, the union said.
Members in community and asylum homelessness teams have reported a “significant emotional toll of having to advise service users that the HSCP cannot provide emergency accommodation".
"This can lead to conflict which has led to police assistance being required at some homelessness presentation points," the union added.
Sermanni said the declaration of a housing emergency is “a step in the right direction”.
“Any plan to address this emergency, however, must have our members immediate and longer term wellbeing at the heart of it.
“The Scottish Government must provide more funding for resources for homelessness or this crisis will only deepen further,” he said.
Stuart Graham, Unison’s social work vice-convener, said: “Both the [council] administration and the HSCP have referred to a potential humanitarian crisis over coming weeks and months, but the impact of the funding crisis Glasgow is already experiencing means that workers delivering homelessness services are in crisis now.”
Keir Greenaway, GMB Scotland senior organiser in public services, said workers are “absolutely committed to supporting these crucial services but are simply at breaking point”.
“Declaring a housing emergency should have provoked emergency action by the council and the government but, instead, staff are being asked to do more and more.”
The HSCP spokeswoman said: “We are aware of concerns raised by Unison and have been in regular discussion with them and have met to discuss these specific concerns.
“We do recognise there is pressure on our staff across the HSCP and particularly in recognition of the pressures in homelessness. We are recruiting additional staff and have discussed other measures we can take to support staff.”
