{"id":29463,"date":"2021-07-09T15:41:44","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T14:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=29463"},"modified":"2021-07-09T15:41:46","modified_gmt":"2021-07-09T14:41:46","slug":"council-funding-gaps-must-be-closed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=29463","title":{"rendered":"Council funding gaps must be closed"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n\n<p>A \u00c2\u01413 billion council funding blackhole caused by the cost of the pandemic will \u00e2\u20ac\u0098tear communities apart\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 unless it is fixed, Unite, which represents thousands of local authority workers, said today (July 9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Responding to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-57720900\">BBC investigation<\/a> that found 170 councils in the UK are facing a total funding shortfall of \u00c2\u01413 billion by 2023-24, Unite national officer for local authorities Jim Kennedy said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bFor 10 years Tory austerity policies unleashed cuts upon cuts upon cuts on local authorities. Services that hold communities together and are a lifeline for poorer and more vulnerable members of society were slashed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLibraries were closed, swimming pools were emptied, after school clubs were shut, support for the disabled disappeared, 15-minute care calls for the elderly become the norm \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the list goes on and on,&#8221; he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThose cuts have eroded social cohesion and made Britain more fragmented and a much less happy place for millions of people,&#8221; Kennedy continued. &#8220;Now post-pandemic council deficits threaten to compound the situation and risk tearing communities apart if not dealt with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe impact on council workers, the majority of whom are already underpaid and overworked, should not be overlooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis BBC investigation reconfirms that the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s councils are staring down the barrel of a gun. Ministers need to realise that functioning local government is part of the lifeblood of democracy and ensure that services are repaired, and funding gaps closed.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>By Ryan Fletcher<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A \u00c2\u01413 billion council funding blackhole caused by the cost of the pandemic will \u00e2\u20ac\u0098tear communities apart\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 unless it is fixed, Unite, which represents thousands of local authority workers, said today (July 9). Responding to a BBC investigation that found 170 councils in the UK are facing a total funding shortfall of \u00c2\u01413 billion by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27943,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[1295,1688,1370],"wps_subtitle":"\u00c2\u01413bn council funding blackhole from pandemic will \u00e2\u20ac\u0098tear communities apart\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 unless fixed","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29463"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29463"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29465,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29463\/revisions\/29465"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}