Scottish Government 'money grab' blasted as Ayrshire IJBs to hand back £23.6m Covid reserves

dailyrecord.co.uk:

An Ayrshire politician has blasted what he's described as an 'undemocratic money grab' from the Scottish Government.Integration Joint Boards in Ayrshire are set to hand back a total of around £23.657 million in unspent Covid cash due to an apparent change in the response to the pandemic.In February this year, the Scottish Government dished out £619m in additional funds to Integration Joint Boards (IJB) throughout Scotland to aid with the response to Covid.In September, it's understood the Scottish Government’s director of health finance and governance told the NHS, councils and health and social care partnerships that the expected spend had reduced significantly.And so, the Scottish Government plans to reclaim any surplus Covid reserves that Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCP) will not spend.This figure is expected to be around £8.654m in South Ayrshire, £8.203m in North Ayrshire and £6.8m in East Ayrshire.However, Irvine East councillor Nairn McDonald lodged a question on the matter at the most recent meeting of North Ayrshire Council.Cllr McDonald said after receiving a written response to his question: "This is nothing more than an undemocratic money grab from the SNP in Holyrood, something they wouldn't accept if it were the Tories in Westminster doing the same to them."This will remove funding that will be vital to provide services to elderly, disabled and other vulnerable groups over the coming months and years and the Tories embark on Austerity 2.0"The Scottish Government said the claims made were completely wrong.

A spokesperson said: “These claims are completely wrong. The Covid balances referred to relate to Scottish Government funding, not funding from Local Government. “The majority of Integration