Vital services in Glasgow are under threat as health bosses grapple with a budget shortfall of tens of millions of pounds.

A meeting of the city’s Integration Joint Board that oversees health and social care services heard of the budget pressures looming over the next year.

The situation has worsened as it was previously anticipated there would be a shortfall of £34m.

But the board heard that has increased to £53m.

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The board head that £19m of cash from the city council “has not materialised and has not been passed over by the council.”

Duncan Black, HSCP chief finance officer, said: “Whilst local government has had a small uplift in its overall position of about £230m, in Glasgow’s case, because of the scale of the homelessness pressures… that has resulted in a significant pressure on the council gap, which means they are unable to pass through any support or uplift, for example in relation to any element of the local government pay award.”

Officials said a plan was being worked on to minimise the impact on services.

One of the biggest areas of spending is on homelessness where due to huge demand there is an overspend.

The council underwrites the HSCP overspend on homelessness.

As a result of dealing with the homelessness overspend the council said it is then unable to pass on cash to cover inflation to the HSCP.

The HSCP is funded by the council and the health board and a big budget pressure is pay increases.

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The health board makes a contribution for health staff but it is understood the local government budget means the council is not able to do likewise.

The council is unable to pass through funding to deal with inflation, because it is spending even more underwriting the homelessness overspend.

This was raised at the meeting by IJB board member Chris Cunningham, a senior councillor, who said the alternative was the HSCP took on the homelessness overspend, which is greater than the shortfall.

He said: “In this instance, we probably should recognise that there is a bit of a dilemma there.

“We may not be getting the £19m that would be due to us, but the council is getting £56m in terms of potential homelessness pressure.

“If the £56m, or the debt, came to us, then it would blow our budget apart and cause us serious headaches which would bounce back on the council.

“The £56m sitting with the council is a better option from our point of view.”

A spokesman for the HSCP, said: “The availability of resources to meet inflationary pressures reflects the very significant sums the council has committed to meeting overspends in homelessness services and, more generally, a very difficult budget.”