The unkindest cut of all

News that the social welfare budget will be cut by €1.4 million, following pressure by the European Commission to undertake a €40 million downscaling of projected expenditure for 2012, has come as a shock to the entire sector.

Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, Social Policy Minister Chris Said confirmed that the Foundation for Social Welfare, which now falls within his ministry, would have to face a downward revision of the allocation provided to it in Budget 2012.

FSW comprises three vital government social relief agencies - Sapport, Appogg and Sedqa, which respectively service disabled persons and/or families with disabled members; children from problem backgrounds and victims of domestic violence; as well as people suffering from dependencies such as drugs, alcohol and gambling, and their families.

Outlining the details of the proposed cuts, Said explained that Sapport agency will lose €407,000 for a total allocation of €7.7m.The budget of Appogg will be reduced by €178,000 to €3.4m (believed by social workers to be the "unkindest cut of all", as it will primarily affect children); while the budget of Sedqa will be fall by €130,000 to €2.5 million.

Contacted for his reaction, Anthony Girard, chairman of the Maltese Association of Social Workers, voiced his association's overall dismay at the unexpected blow.

"As MASW our reaction is one of disbelief. We cannot imagine how a sector that has been financially stretched for so many years is now being further stripped of essential financing to enable it to provide an even better service than it is doing at the moment."

Girard stressed that the announcement appears to directly contradict an earlier commitment by the finance ministry that social services would not be affected by any downward revision of budgetary estimates.

In fact the ministry had issued a statement on January 12, following the announcement of an imminent budgetary revision, reassuring the public that "the revision of the Budget which it announced last week will not have any impact on pensions, social services and the people's spending power".

But within less than a month it now appears that social services will indeed be affected; though it remains unclear precisely to what extent.

From internal feedback collected by the MASW it appears that the Foundation for Social Welfare now anticipates a severe strain on its already limited resources.

"The services offered by the Foundation will have to be reduced quite drastically, given that fixed costs (salaries, utilities) will remain unchanged," a foundation spokesman said. "The Agencies (Appogg, Sedqa and Sapport) can only afford to cut down on programmes. The more vulnerable members of society will suffer, while social workers' duties will become even more difficult since they will strive to attain results with a reduced amount of resources."

Contacted separately, a spokesperson for Sedqa said that all services currently offered by the agency will continue to be delivered. "Aġenzija Sedqa's budget for 2012 is €20,000 more than its budget for 2010 and €80,000 less than its budget for 2011. This reduction will not affect the salaries of Aġenzija Sedqa employees, but will mean curtailing costs whenever possible."

However, Girard enumerates a number of pending problems that exist independently of the imminent cutbacks, and which may be exacerbated by further financial pressure.

These include unwieldy waiting lists; a lack of one-to-one computers; low wages; unrealistically high expectations from staff when compared to the resources available; and a general lack of even the most rudimentary facilities, including office space and even telephones.

"These are only some of the points which we are currently facing, let alone if there are further budget cuts," Girard added. "I do strongly believe that we cannot keep on being silent any longer.  Vulnerable people are facing all the consequences.  Professionals are also being affected emotionally and psychologically thus possibly creating social cases out of ourselves!"

Furthermore the International Federation of Social Workers has separately warned that governments should desist, as far as possible, from scaling back essential social services when choosing where to make budgetary incisions for financial reasons.

Vulnerable sectors such as the disabled and the underprivileged, the federation says, are by far the worst his in times of the international economic crisis

"People who are marginalised are disproportionately affected by the economic crisis - for example, older people, women, young people and working poor," the IFSW warns. "We want governments to look at the impact of all cuts to ensure that the impact is not disproportionate. Decisions must be openly discussed in society and the decisions made must be sustainable."

Elsewhere, professionals who work in tandem with social services have also expressed surprise and occasionally indignation at the announcement. In his personal blog, psychotherapist Malcolm Tortell - who has worked with Agenzija Appogg - lambasted the decision as 'heartless'.

"The Government of Malta has decided to cut funding to social support agencies... claiming that this will save money and safeguard jobs," he wrote.

"This argument is false on two counts, as well as being basically heartless. It's also coming from a Government which claims to have the family and children at heart and keeps spouting off about how we love children, look after families and all that."

Tortell points out that the users of at least one of the affected agencies, Appogg, are almost exclusively children.

"First of all, if you have a socially disadvantaged child and you spend €1 on him or her at an early stage then you will save yourself spending €4-5 at a later stage as their delinquent behaviours will incur many expenses, such as court fees and so on.

"Secondly what the Government is really saying is 'safeguard jobs in other sectors' like, erm, Italian architects? €6,000 per week consultants? The frigging genius behind Arriva maybe.... but not social workers! Social work is a job like any other, except it's not esteemed as much as online gaming for example, that pinnacle of social consciousness!"