Ministers must fix council funding to avoid ” catastrophic cuts ”
The government must fund local councils properly for the first time in more than a decade in order to keep communities safe and rebuild the country after the pandemic, says UNISON today (Monday).
Unless ministers fix the current funding shortfall – estimated to be in the region of £10bn – there could be tens of thousands of job losses and catastrophic cuts to local services in England, according to the union.
Many of the people providing essential services throughout the pandemic – including social care, waste collection and environmental health workers – could soon be out of work, despite councils having a central role in keeping people safe in the months ahead, says UNISON.
The union has analysed the impact of the £10bn ’funding gap’ for 2020/21, which amounts to a 21% reduction in spending compared to the previous financial year (2019/20).
If cuts were to be applied equally across all services, it would mean £1.9bn slashed from children’s social care spending, £1.1bn from environmental services and £3.5bn from adult social care –an area already in crisis before the coronavirus outbreak.
UNISON says a reduction of that magnitude could lead to the loss of 51,000 children’s social workers, 141,000 adult care workers, and almost 46,000 refuse collectors.
If social care – which accounts for more than half of local authority spending – and public health were to be p...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Garfield Myrie Tags: News Press release council Covid-19 fair funding for local government Jon Richards petition Source Type: news
More News: Budgets | Coronavirus | COVID-19 | Education | Emergency Medicine | Environmental Health | Funding | Government | Health Management | International Medicine & Public Health | Outbreaks | Pandemics | Tax | UK Health | Universities & Medical Training