COUNCIL Leader Susan Aitken is gearing up to lead a team of staff in Glasgow's Sleep in the Park.

Glasgow City Council staff have raised more than £11,500 in sponsorship to help homeless people.

A team of around 60 volunteers, including staff and councillors, will brave the cold to support Social Bite’s event at Kelvingrove Bandstand.

They have raised more than £11,500 in sponsorship, including gift aid, and the total is still rising.

The council has also donated a further £10,000 to the charity.

Ms Aitken said: “There is a real willingness within the public to do something about homelessness and rough sleeping as the response to these events in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen shows.

“And the response we have had from staff internally, over and above the council’s £10,000, is a further indication of what this issue means to individual elected members and staff.

“Homelessness is a pressing social issue we at the council are engaged with every single day and which the wider austerity agenda does nothing to improve.

“It is hard for any of us to imagine the lived experience of those who are homeless or rough sleeping but Sleep In The Park allows us to do something as individuals.

"It will be amazing to see so many people from all walks of life come together to do their bit.”

Simultaneous Sleep in the Park events will take place in Dundee, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow on December 8.

Social Bite hope up to 12,000 people will take part across Scotland including up to 2500 in Glasgow.

Glasgow’s Lord Provost, Eva Bolander, donated a bottle of limited edition whisky to be raffled in aid of the fundraiser.

The raffle raised £412 which boosted the team’s tally. The winning ticket, drawn at random from a hat, belonged to Brian McHugh, a Senior Mechanical Engineer in DRS.

Josh Littlejohn, Co-Founder of Social Bite, thanked the council for its support.

He said: “Glasgow City Council has done something amazing by supporting this campaign to help vulnerable people."

Staff fundraising efforts are ongoing and anyone who would like to help the homeless and contribute to the team total can donate at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/GlasgowCityCouncilSleepinthePark