MSPs have been warned about the impact of a failure to increase spending for key areas in the upcoming Scottish Budget – with Police Scotland saying this would lead to a “significant workforce reduction” while colleges bosses claimed it would be “catastrophe” that would see some institutions go bust.

Both Sarah Roughead, chief financial officer of Police Scotland, and Andy Witty of Colleges Scotland warned Holyrood’s Finance Committee about the impact of a so-called “flat cash” settlement – where the cash received from the Scottish Government remains static.

MSPs are taking evidence on the issue as the Scottish Government wrestles with a looming budget gap of almost £5 billion by 2029-30.

Deputy First Minister and Finance Secretary Jenny Gilruth will unveil her tax and spending plans for 2027-28 on December 3 but Dave Moxham, deputy general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, said: “The cabinet secretary is not going to be able to manage this.”

He said “significant cuts” would have to be made and “pretending otherwise is a mistake”.

Mr Moxham told the committee: “We need to stop pretending that we can rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic.

“I wish I could be more gentle about it, but I can’t be, because I think we are looking at cuts upon cuts upon cuts in the period ahead.”

His comments came after Mr Witty made clear to MSPs that “flat cash for colleges into next year would be a crisis”.

The director of strategic policy and corporate governance told the committee if this happens “there would be some go insolvent”.

He added: “There would certainly be job losses, there would be no capacity to reform because there would be no headspace. It would be a catastrophe, flat cash.”

Mr Witty continued: “The irony is at the very point that Scotland needs its colleges to train up the workforce for the future, to prevent people falling into poverty … there is a huge risk that the sector will be wobbling.”

His warning came as Ms Roughead told MSPs that a flat cash settlement could impact Police Scotland’s preventative work – which includes vital efforts in tackling violence against women and girls.

She told MSPs the force had been “explicit with our colleagues in government” that failing to increase funding for the police “is not a sustainable position and would equate to significant workforce reduction and significant and serious workforce implications”.

Ms Roughead continued: “We will always, always, look after our communities and respond to threat, harm and risk.

“But we will have to prioritise the threat, harm and risk, and it would probably move to a more response rather than a preventative service in a flat cash funding scenario.”

Asked about these areas of preventative spend, she said that “key areas” included both community police and also “critically” violence against women and girls “which we know is a societal issue that needs to be addressed”.

Jason Henderson, of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), said their chief executive officer had previously warned of a “slow motion apocalypse in the third sector” – telling the committee: “Nothing has changed this year to deviate us from that route.

“If anything, things are getting gradually worse.”

The SCVO policy and public affairs officer said charities and voluntary organisations had to deal with a funding landscape “that is unfair and unsustainable”.

He told the committee it was “rare” for organisations to see their cash grants increase with inflation, saying this created a “situation where organisations who do receive longer-term funding receive real-terms cuts to their funding every year”.

Mr Henderson went on: “We are seeing an increase in the lack of core funding that is being made available to third sector organisations, and if organisations can’t keep the lights on, they can’t provide the services and the projects our communities need.”

The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.