{"id":7002,"date":"2015-12-02T17:14:25","date_gmt":"2015-12-02T17:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=7002"},"modified":"2015-12-03T10:41:15","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T10:41:15","slug":"the-cuts-that-will-hurt-the-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=7002","title":{"rendered":"The cuts that will hurt the most"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Council services, including elderly care, children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s centres, parks and libraries, among other vital services, have suffered desperately under the weight of the previous government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spending cuts, which amounted to an \u00c2\u014118bn cull in real terms since 2010.<\/p>\n

 
\nBut local authorities\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pain is far from over, after last week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s autumn statement revealed that they will continue to bear austerity\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s greatest burden.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe central government grant \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the primary source of local authority funding, worth \u00c2\u014118bn \u00e2\u20ac\u201c will be phased out entirely by 2020, leaving local authorities facing a gaping \u00c2\u01414.1bn-a-year black hole.<\/p>\n

 
\nLocal Government Association chairman Lord Gary Potter, also a Conservative peer, explained just how catastrophic the impending local authority cuts will be.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEven if councils stop filling in potholes, maintaining parks, closed all children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s centres, libraries, museums, leisure centres and turned off every street light, they will not have saved enough money to plug the financial black hole they face by 2020,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 
\nChancellor George Osborne contends that the shortfall will be made up by new measures that will devolve power to local government, representing what he calls a \u00e2\u20ac\u015brevolution in the way we govern this country\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 
\nThese measures include allowing local authorities to control and keep 100 per cent of receipts from business rates and property sales, as well as allowing councils to raise their council tax by 2 per cent to fund social care.<\/p>\n

 
\nRed herring<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But Unite national officer for local authorities Fiona Farmer argues that this is a red herring, and will go nowhere near replacing the funding lost from government cuts, especially for the most deprived communities.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf you look at the argument about business rates, the impact will be very detrimental for the poorest areas,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThose that benefit from business rates will be areas that are already quite affluent anyway. Those that will suffer will be the inner city councils \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the Manchesters, Liverpools and so on.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nThe same, Farmer notes, goes for allowing councils to raise council tax to pay for social care.<\/p>\n

 
\nLiverpool city council has said that its annual social care bill stands at \u00c2\u0141172m a year, while a 2 per cent rise to council tax in the city would generate only \u00c2\u01413.2m.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis measure will be nowhere near enough to make up the difference, especially for councils where property prices are low,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Farmer said.<\/p>\n

 
\nFarmer described the immense strain local authority staff are already under after five years of austerity.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe local government workforce is already the lowest paid across all the public sector,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAbout 25 per cent are paid below the Living Wage, and nearly one in eight rely on in-work benefits just to survive.”<\/p>\n

 
\nA quarter of a million local authority jobs were shed over the last five years of austerity. But these job cuts are only the beginning, Farmer notes.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re looking at thousands of job losses across the UK \u00e2\u20ac\u201c up to 6,000 in Birmingham, 3,000 in Glasgow, 2,000 in Edinburgh and so on,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe would say that local government is coming close to total collapse.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nFor those local government workers who are left after jobs are slashed, Farmer notes they face worsened terms and conditions \u00e2\u20ac\u201c allowances, annual leave, overtime and mileage are all cut to the bone as austerity continues to bite.<\/p>\n

 
\nAs council staff suffer, so too, do those who use council services, many of whom are from the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most deprived communities.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite community coordinator for the southwest Brett Sparkes is on the frontlines of local authority cuts, and knows intimately the effect cuts have had on vulnerable communities.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnder threat<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most recently, Sparkes and Unite members, along with the local community in Swindon, mounted a protest against the shuttering of children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s centres. Already, seven centres, which serve a large number of vulnerable children, were shut in April, with the council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s remaining five now under threat.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe services these centres offer are not available anywhere else,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Sparkes explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re absolutely vital in assisting young families. Especially in rural areas in the southwest, young families will have nowhere else to go to for support.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nSparkes points to a Bristol respite centre as another example of the effect government cuts are having on local communities.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite Community spearheaded a day of action against cuts to beds at the respite centre, which provides short breaks for severely disabled children and vital support for their families.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe replacement services the council offered are completely inadequate,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Sparkes noted.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese examples are all part of a larger pattern we see in austerity Britain,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bOver the last five years, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen a rise in homelessness as housing costs skyrocket, people suffering mental health problems not getting the help they need, people going hungry and living on the streets.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd it is council services that are there to support these people falling through the cracks,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Sparkes explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut now, if the latest cuts go through, all this support will be gone.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nFarmer agrees, adding that the cuts will not only cause immediate suffering among users and local authority staff, but will also actually add to public expenditure in the long-term.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf social care and services collapse, the onus then moves on to the NHS,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she notes. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s far more expensive for the elderly, the vulnerable and the infirm to be looked after by the NHS than it is by\u00c2\u00a0local government.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen already that leisure centres, libraries and youth services are being completely axed because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not seen as essential,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Farmer added.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut again this is a false economy, because if you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t invest in youth services, then you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll end up paying more somewhere else, whether it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in the justice system or the NHS \u00e2\u20ac\u201c some other budget will pick up the costs and the repercussions.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nBoth Farmer and Sparkes highlight another outcome of severe local authority cuts \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the transformation of councils from providers of services to commissioners of services.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen councils become nothing more than facilitators of private contracts, services suffer because companies are beholden to shareholders, not to the communities they serve,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Sparkes explained.<\/p>\n

 
\nAlthough dark days are ahead for local authorities, Sparkes believes there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still much that can be done to combat cuts to services on a local level.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bConservative councils are in league with the Tory government, adopting their mantra of cutting services to the bone, especially services that help the most vulnerable,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explained.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDespite central government cuts, councils still make decisions \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in Bristol, the council there wanted to cut disabled kids\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 beds but was perfectly willing to spend more than \u00c2\u01412m on 20 mph road signs in the city.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn this sense, we as a community can stand together and still challenge the cuts by challenging these local decisions.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Council services, including elderly care, children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s centres, parks and libraries, among other vital services, have suffered desperately under the weight of the previous government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spending cuts, which amounted to an \u00c2\u014118bn cull in real terms since 2010.   But local authorities\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pain is far from over, after last week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s autumn statement revealed that they will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3539,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[447,89,104],"wps_subtitle":"Communities must unite to fight local cuts ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7002"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7002"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7007,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7002\/revisions\/7007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}