Blog: The Chancellor ’ s budget choice is between decent services and lost services

Next week the Chancellor will be unveiling his Budget. It’s an opportunity for the government to begin reversing austerity, and start delivering real pay rises for all public service workers. But, as a recent UNISON report shows, it’s also a time when ministers could show they support local services. At the moment that’s far from what’s happening. A growing surplus on the government’s share of business rates – which is set to increase by £1.8bn in 2018/19 – is being diverted into central coffers, when it would be better spent supporting local council services. Despite what the government might argue, there are always smarter choices to be made. Cuts are not inevitable, especially in local government, which has been hit hard in recent years. Current government plans mean that between 2010/11 and 2019/20 local government will lose a massive £16bn in funding from central government. Services are being cut or disappearing altogether, libraries, sure start centres and youth clubs are closing, and hundreds of thousands of jobs have gone. Of course, funding cuts are only one side of the story. At the same time councils are facing inflation increases, which by 2015 had added £7bn to their costs. At the same time, local authorities have had to contend with the cost of providing services for a growing population. In England the population grew by 2.6m between 2010 and 2016, that means it is costing more to provide social care to a greater number of older people who are...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: General secretary's blog News budget local government Source Type: news