GLASGOW'S homelessness service is "chronically under resourced" according to frontline caseworkers who deal with dozens of desperate people every day.

Whistleblowers at the city council's casework teams have lifted the lid on a system in crisis and admitted they are forced to send rough sleepers back to the streets.

The workers opened up to the Evening Times about the critical situation on condition of anonymity.

Glasgow City Council offers a homelessness casework service through three teams in the Gorbals, Barlanark and Possilpark, as well as an out of hours service at the Hamish Allan Centre in Tradeston.

One caseworker said: "On any given day, you're hit for everything and it's chronically under resourced.

"City wide there are thousands of homeless cases - it's working out that each caseworker has between 40 and 50 cases.

"It can be standing room only in the waiting areas and lot of the time it's first come first served

"Quite often we tell people to go away and come back in a few hours because we have so many people to see."

The local authority has a legal obligation to provide accommodation to those that qualify but staff have revealed there aren't enough beds in the city.

The caseworker said: "We're turning away 20 to 25 single people every day, men and women. The fact that people are being turned away is a statutory breach of duty. It means Glasgow City Council is breaking the law. And it's an everyday occurrence.

"We sometimes send people to the Hamish Allan Centre. They can try there and see if there is accommodation, but it's very unlikely that there will be.

"Cash hotels are usually accessed for single females and families with children. We use the Clifton Hotel in Buckingham Terrace and the Premier Inn in the Gorbals, and more recently the Premier Inn in East Kilbride. It's usually £50 for a single room and £75 or upwards for a family room."

However, these hotels don't always need the council's money and it means homeless people are not given emergency accommodation.

The caseworker said: "It really depends on what is happening in the city. If there's a concert on or a big football match you're on a hiding to nothing.

"We'll get an internal email from the council saying there are no cash hotels available this weekend because Bruce Springsteen is playing in Glasgow or Celtic are playing a European match."

Another caseworker revealed that staff often tell homeless people to take their employers to court if they're denied a bed for the night.

They said: "We're not encouraged to refer people to a lawyer but we do. When lawyers send correspondence to say we're in breach of our statutory duty, and they plan to take it to a judicial review, that person end up with accommodation.

"Glasgow City Council is scared of being taken to court and held accountable for a breach of statutory duty, which happens every single day of the week."

However, some management refuse to turn a blind eye when their staff suggest homeless people seek legal advice.

The caseworker added: "We try to do it in a roundabout way by saying to service users it may be in your best interests but we've been pulled up for it and told we need to stop the legal challenges.

"This is the Catch 22 situation we find ourselves in. As a statutory worker we can't provide the service that people are entitled to because there isn't enough accommodation.

"Their only recourse is to find a way to legally challenge Glasgow City Council but there has been occasions, particularly during winters, we've had managers contact us and tell us to stop encouraging these challenges because of the pressure on accommodation and the system."

The caseworker said Glasgow's hostel closure programme contributed to the crisis.

"They needed to be closed because people were sitting in them for years and their issues weren't being identified and by the time they were identified they had become exacerbated by the environment they were living in.

"But one thing that doesn't make sense, and it's just basic maths, was when they closed the hostels down they didn't replace the same amount of bed spaces that they closed down."

The council closed three large-scale hostels between 2004 and 2008, which provided 700 beds, and replaced them with small scale units which can accommodate 600.

At that time the number of temporary furnished flats available to the council rose from 600 to 1,800, but that has been reduced significantly in recent years after the demolition of high rises in the city.

A council spokesman said: "We fully acknowledge there are significant pressures currently impacting on our homelessness service.

"There are a number of factors which has led to this. For example, the council is completely dependent on registered social landlords to provide permanent accommodation for people affected by homelessness but insufficient numbers of homes are being made available to help meet demand.

"A lack of permanent homes means homeless people get stuck in temporary accommodation and this then reduces the availability of places to stay in an emergency.

"However, we are investing over £12m in two new emergency accommodation units while enhancing our street team service to ensure that rough sleepers are being directed to appropriate support."