GLASGOW City Council leader Gordon Matheson must step in to see off a growing "crisis" in homelessness services, according to the leader of the SNP opposition at the local authority.

Councillor Susan Aitken claims Executive Member for Social Care, Councillor Malcolm Cunning, has "his head buried in the sand" and Matheson should pull rank.

Ms Aitken has written to the council leader and urged him to "personally intervene" to resolve a ten-week strike by homelessness caseworkers.

She said: "Councillor Malcolm Cunning must be the only person left in Glasgow who doesn't think there's a serious problem with the city's homelessness services. Either he has his head buried in the sand or he simply doesn't have a clue what's going on in the department he has political responsibility for.

"On his watch, the homelessness caseworkers' dispute shows no signs of being resolved after more than ten weeks, while the council fails in its duties towards homeless people.

"That homelessness caseworkers have now felt the need to take strike action twice in as many years is a symptom, not the cause, of the deep-seated problems in the service. No one knows better than the frontline staff how bad things have become, but still Councillor Cunning refuses to listen to them and instead endorses high-handed management tactics, which have only made the situation worse.

"I've asked Councillor Matheson, as leader of the council, to personally intervene to broker a resolution to the dispute. He at least recognises the current crisis is unsustainable, but he can't continue to remain aloof from it. The administration he leads is responsible for homeless people being turned away and left to sleep in Glasgow's streets, night after night. That's utterly unacceptable and it's time for the leader of the council to step up and take responsibility for its failures."

In a letter to Councillor Aitken, seen by the Evening Times, Councillor Matheson admits the strike is a "very regrettable situation" but insisted it has had "minimal impact on the overall functioning of the homelessness service or the experience of homeless people".

The council has resisted calls by striking homelessness caseworkers to upgrade their salary to level six, which would increase pay by up to £5,000 a year.

Councillor Matheson said: "I trust you agree that it would be impossible for the council to simply re-grade staff when there are no grounds to do so. Such action would fundamentally undermine the council's entire pay structure. This is the reason why serious consideration is being given to how we can move this dispute to resolution by way of a review of the current role and function of the casework service."

He added: "I sincerely hope that a resolution can be achieved in the not too distant future."