A CHARITY has claimed it has been ‘blacklisted’ by cash-strapped Slough Borough Council (SBC) amid its legal disputes.

Trisha Young, chief executive of Slough Crossroads, which provides care to disabled and vulnerable children and adults, said the council has stopped sending new referrals to them and reducing its service ‘one by one’.

She claimed it’s an effort to “sink” the charity. Mrs Young said: “The irony is once again; they [SBC] are currently engaging in work around the Build Back Better agenda with Windsor and Bracknell around the cost of care for the government yet in reality they are trying everything they can to destroy safe support as well as jobs.”

READ MORE: Slough Borough Council at loggerheads with Slough Crossroads

The debt-ridden SBC, which commissions the service, said it was not appropriate to comment as the dispute was still ongoing.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service previously reported that Slough Crossroads is at loggerheads with the council after it alleged SBC owed them money for not paying its bills and legal fees.

According to the charity, the council paid most of its £111,000 debt in June but is still waiting on other money it is owed.

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The dispute started last year when Slough Crossroads wanted to pay staff £10 an hour and bring its service fees in line with what it charges other local authorities from April 2021.

A court battle loomed, with the charity forking over £15,000 in legal fees. Slough Crossroads said invoices are still not being paid promptly.

SBC is needing to make £20m savings a year until 2029 and sell up to £600m of its assets to reduce its £680m borrowing debt and bridge its £479m blackhole.