Asbestos charity funding axed
Last updated 13th Jan 2020
A Glasgow charity which has helped hundreds of people exposed to asbestos at their work, with a devastating effects on their health, has had its funding stopped by Glasgow City Council.
Shattered staff at Action on Asbestos claim their latest bid for funding was rejected because they missed a small item out of their application
The charity was formerly known as Clydeside Action on Asbestos and has been running for more than 30 years helping with the legacy of the toxic material which was once used in heavy industry, such as shipbuilding, leading to deadly lung conditions such as mesothelioma.
For the past decade, the charity has had access funding from Glasgow City Council to help meet the costs of running the service.
Charity manager Phyllis Craig, MBE commented: ‘Funding from Glasgow City Council has been the charity’s only source of public funding for over the past decade and so we were very keen to submit a new application as normal. However do a small glitch in the application process that was quickly rectified by Action on Asbestos the Council is now refusing to accept our application. This will place severe financial strain on the charity. We believe that this is a cynical attempt by the Council to reduce the numbers submitting applications for funding. We are greatly concerned and appalled that the Council are taking such an inflexible approach to this.
“Action on Asbestos has for decades supported the citizens of this great city who are dying due to the legacy of industrial disease. The victims and their families need to know that support will remain place. We are calling on Glasgow City Council to rethink their decision and accept our application. We make that call in the name of those who are living with and indeed dying of the legacy of widespread asbestos use in Glasgow.’
Thomas Mooney has mesothelioma and has been using the services of Action on Asbestos since he was diagnosed. Mr Mooney said: "I am absolutely appalled that Glasgow City Council are using a very small human error as an excuse to reject Action on Asbestos’ application outright without even reading it or considering its merits. What kind of message do they think this sends to me and the hundreds of others that are living and dying of an asbestos related condition in Glasgow?
"It tells me that the Councillors that are supposed to represent me really don’t care! They have the opportunity here to do the right thing. Accept the application, read it, grant the funding and serve the people of Glasgow who are stuck living with the consequences of the asbestos that they inhaled by going to work to support their family.
"Action on Asbestos is a wonderful charity that has helped both me and my family. When you’re told you’re going to die from someone else’s negligence you feel you have nowhere to turn.
"Thankfully the medical professionals whom I attend knew that Action on Asbestos would be there to help me. I would ask Glasgow city council to accept this very much needed charity’s funding application."
A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said:
“The application process is rightly rigorous to ensure that applicant organisations are able to demonstrate good governance, as well as evidence that they can make an impact.
"It was made very clear at the start of the process that certain pieces of documentation would need to be provided and support was given to potential applicants right the way through. The majority of applicants were able to provide the necessary evidence on time.”