TRADE unionists and community activists in Edinburgh are celebrating after winning a reprieve from swingeing social care cuts.

More than 100 campaigners rallied outside Edinburgh’s City Chambers today as the city’s Integrated Joint Board (IJB), which oversees social and primary health care, considered proposals to axe third-sector grants to organisations such as lunch clubs and community projects to rein in £26 million of overspend.

The IJB, however, “listened to voices across Edinburgh,” according to IJB chair Katharina Kasper and decided “not to proceed with in-year savings to third sector grants” but warned the deficit remained “with £60m savings required this year and £50m next year.”

Commenting on the decision, Unite’s Graeme Smith told the Star: “The IJB’s chief officer told the meeting many of these projects might still lose funding, despite them pulling in more than £20m in match funding every year.

“The IJB are looking for good publicity while they’re under scrutiny, but we know the cuts are not going to disappear, they’ll fall elsewhere.

“This is nothing but a stay of execution. The massacre of social care continues.”

IJB chief officer Pat Togher said: “We must make the necessary decisions to protect our core legal duties and protect our most vulnerable.

“It is in this context that we must decide on how we now prioritise spend when faced with the gravity of the savings imposed and ensure longer-term sustainability.”