News / Clothing grants to stay
A PROPOSAL to cut a clothing grant to pre-school pupils of £40 per child has been thrown out by councillors on Wednesday.
Shetland Islands Council could have saved £1,200 per annum if the proposal had gone through.
The non-statutory help to parents on low incomes became earmarked for the axe as part of a root and branch spending review to bring council budgets under control.
However, led by education committee vice chairman George Smith, councillors agreed that such a move would send out the wrong signal.
Smith described the proposal as “penny-pinching” that doesn’t appreciate the value of the service to those families with financial needs.
Tom MacIntyre added: “There are people at the edge here, and this will make a difference. We will be seen as further disadvantaging people.”
Councillors were at pains to explain that rejecting the proposal should not be seen as criticising officials who were just doing “what we asked them to do”.
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