Bidding up the risk

Services for homeless people in Edinburgh are in disarray after a botched attempt to cut costs led to the collapse of a deal with one of Scotland’s biggest mental health charities – and the closure of a Shelter project for families with children on the ‘at risk’ register.

The Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) was due to take on services from the Edinburgh Homelink Partnership in April after it was awarded the contract as part of a bidding process aimed at multi–million pound efficiency savings. But the deal fell through amid a bitter row over costs that has raised doubts about the way Edinburgh dealt with bodies tendering for homelessness services.

SAMH is now suing the council for breach of contract after it cancelled the deal a week before the charity was due to start work. And other charities – including Shelter Scotland, which lost its contract to provide services for homeless families – have joined the protest about Edinburgh’s management of the reorganisation.