Category Archives: Austerity cuts

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1 Oct 2018

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Health and Social Care (local), Local Government Finance

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“English councils brace for biggest government cuts since 2010 despite ‘unprecedented’ budget pressures”

“Councils are facing the biggest cuts to government funding since 2010 despite unprecedented pressure and demand, which could risk “tipping many over the edge”, local authorities have warned.

Figures show that the revenue support grant – the main source of government funding for local services – will be cut by 36 per cent next year, marking the largest annual deduction in almost a decade.

It comes despite repeated warnings that continuing cuts to vital local authority provisions mean vulnerable people, such as the elderly, at-risk children and homeless people, are being left to “fend for themselves”.

An analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA) reveals that, overall, councils will have suffered a 77 per cent decrease in the government funding between 2015/16 and next year, dropping from £9,927m in 2015-16 to £2,284m in 2019-20.

Almost half of all councils (168) will receive no support grant next year – marking a threefold rise on this year and a more than tenfold increase on 2017/18, the figures show.

The government claimed its funding settlement gave a real terms increase in resources for local government in 2018-19 and said new “business rate pilots” would mean councils retain £1.8bn.

But council leaders said this would not substitute for adequately funded services, and warned that they were increasingly unable to provide dignified care for the elderly and disabled, protect children and build much-needed homes.

Official figures published last week showed government spending on children at risk of neglect or abuse had been slashed by 26 per cent over the past five years, while spending on children’s centres dropped by 42 per cent.

Separate data shows that the number of older people who are not getting the care and support they need from local authorities has hit a record high, with one in seven now living with some level of unmet need – marking a 19 per cent increase since 2015.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/england-council-budget-cuts-government-austerity-social-services-essential-care-safety-a8559486.html

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30 Sep 2018

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Business Rates, Economy, High Street decline, Inequality

“Business rates: one John Lewis store will pay four times the tax of Amazon”

“John Lewis, the embattled retailer whose profits collapsed by 99% in the six months to July, will be charged £10.5m in business rates for its flagship Oxford Street shop from April, according to new figures — a 60% rise in three years.

A short walk away, Selfridges’ flagship shop also faces a 60% hike: its business rates bill will climb to £17.5m. That figure is almost four times the total UK corporation tax paid last year by the online retail giant Amazon: just £4.5m.

The looming threat to the high street will put pressure on the chancellor, Philip Hammond, to throw businesses a lifeline when he delivers his budget on October 29.

This weekend, Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said: “These figures lay bare the shocking burden the business rates regime places on British retailers, who make up 5% of the economy and pay 25% of business rates — £7bn a year. The rates bill is leading to store closures, preventing the reinvention of our high streets, and is damaging communities the length and breadth of the UK.”
The BRC is lobbying for a two-year freeze in business rates until a revaluation in 2021, while the New West End Company, which represents businesses in London’s West End, is lobbying for a rates reduction of £5bn. This would be financed by a 1% tax on online businesses but would not apply to traditional retailers’ internet sales.

High street trading has been squeezed by online shopping, which now accounts for 18.2% of the market, with fewer stores surviving to shoulder the rates burden.

A phased four-year settlement in 2017 will bite hardest from April, with some stores facing huge increases. Burberry, which this month unveiled a new collection, faces a hike for its London headquarters of 186% compared with its rates in 2016-17.

In Manchester, Zara must pay £1.26m and Manchester City football club £2.4m, up from £1.7m in 2016-17.

Altus Group, the property adviser that researched the figures, found NHS hospitals will have to pay £386m and council-controlled state schools £957m.

Nickie Aiken, the Conservative leader of Westminster council, said: “Our taxes should reflect our way of life. I would ask the Treasury: do we want to continue the decline so that the only things left on the high street are charity shops and betting shops?”

Source: Sunday Times (pay wall)

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28 Sep 2018

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Education (local), Local Government Finance

“Birmingham pupils sent home early to save school money”

“A head teacher has cut the number of hours children spend at school to save money.

Neil Porter said he would save £18,500 by cutting an hour and 20 minutes every Friday at Birmingham’s St Peter and St Paul RC Junior and Infant School.

The pupils’ early finish means teachers can plan their lessons and there is no need to pay supply staff to supervise children.

But parents have said they have had to change their working hours.
The day finishes at 15:20 BST Monday to Thursday at the Erdington school.

But on a Friday after lunch, the 210 pupils now go into a whole-school assembly with the head at 13:00. They are then picked up by parents at 14:00. …”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-45665080

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28 Sep 2018

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Education (local)

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Devon head teachers in London protesting funding cuts

“Head teachers from schools in Devon and Cornwall will join about 1,000 colleagues from around the country in London today, to demand extra funding for schools.

They will meet in Parliament Square before delivering a letter to No 11 Downing Street, amid concerns over work conditions and overcrowded classrooms.

The heads quote the Institute of Fiscal Studies’ claim that per pupil funding has fallen 8% in real terms since 2010. …”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-devon-45563759

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26 Sep 2018

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Claire Wright, NHS (local), Ottery St Mary

Secretary of State for Health refuses to meet Claire Wright as he inspects closed Ottery Hospital

From Claire Wright’s Facebook page:

“MATT HANCOCK, SECRETARY OF STATE FOR HEALTH, VISITS OTTERY HOSPITAL BUT LEAVES AT SPEED, JAMES BOND STYLE ….

Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care sped out of Ottery Hospital car park, in his ministerial car, with blue lights flashing this morning, in an apparently desperate attempt to avoid speaking to me and around a dozen hospital supporters.

Just before he left in a hurry, officials asked me and around a dozen residents to leave the car park where we were peacefully waiting for him to exit. We didn’t have placards and there was no chanting.

For more see…

See coverage on ITV Westcountry at 6pm this evening”

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26 Sep 2018

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Inequality, Privatisation

Privatisation not making your company enough money? Don’tworry – taxpayers will stump up for your losses

“Carillion taxpayer bill likely to top £150 million

Taxpayers are on course to pay more than £150m following the collapse this year of Carillion after it was revealed the bill for redundancy payments is expected to hit £65m.

A freedom of information request by the Unite union showed an arm of the Insolvency Service has already made £50m of redundancy payments to former Carillion workers and expects to hand over a further £15m.

The cost of lawyers and accountants handling the liquidation of the construction and services companies is expected to be more than £70m and other costs are expected to escalate above £20m, taking the total beyond £150m.

Earlier this year the National Audit Office said the cost would hit £148m, prompting condemnation from opposition MPs who accused the government of mishandling the company’s collapse and leaving taxpayers to foot the bill.

Considered one of the most spectacular corporate collapses of modern times, Carillion filed for bankruptcy in January after its stock market value slumped 90% on the news it had racked up debts of about £1bn and was struggling to fill a £600m hole in its pension fund.

At the time, the Wolverhampton-based company had more than 19,000 employees, many of them working on Whitehall-commissioned contracts to build roads, schools and hospitals.

Ministers were accused of realising too late that the company was in financial difficulties and then making matters worse by offering fresh contracts in an attempt to boost investor confidence.

Several contracts were taken over by rivals after the collapse, but the £335m Royal Liverpool hospital will be finished with government money, the hospital’s chief executive said on Tuesday, while the £550m Aberdeen bypass will be completed by the joint venture partners Balfour Beatty and Galliford Try.

Labour’s shadow cabinet spokesman, Jon Trickett, said he had received pledges from ministers in response to questions in the Commons that the costs associated with Carillion’s downfall would be met by shareholders.

“We were assured that shareholders, who have taken hundreds of millions out of the company over the years, would bear the burden, not the taxpayer,” he said. “Now it feels like the taxpayer has been skinned twice. First by contracts ministers signed with Carillion that were a bad deal and then by picking up the tab for the company’s failure.”

The Redundancy Payments Office said: “The total amount we may pay out is approximately £65m, of which £50m has been paid so far based on actual claims received.”

Unite said ministers were to blame for allowing Carillion to file for compulsory liquidation with only £29m in the bank, rather than enter a managed form of administration.

It said the decision meant thousands of staff that transferred to other employers could not claim continued employment and fell outside the transfer of undertakings (protection of employment) regulations (Tupe) that protect a worker’s pay, terms and conditions.

“The lack of continuation of service means that the affected workers are considered new starters and have also lost many of their employment rights for a two-year period,” Unite said.

“The taxpayer will also have to pick up the bill for the work to complete several of Carillion’s key strategic projects including the Royal Liverpool hospital and the Midland Metropolitan hospital in Sandwell, West Midlands. The cost of concluding these projects is expected to be in excess of £100m. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/25/carillion-collapse-likely-cost-taxpayers-more-than-150m-unite

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26 Sep 2018

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Austerity cuts, Health and Social Care (local), Inequality

Social care turnover is more than 40%

“The proportion of adult social care workers in England leaving their jobs has increased 7.6% over the five years to 2017-18, according to workforce figures.

Most of those leaving were new recruits, particularly people under 30 – with a turnover rate of 42.4% in the last financial year – according to the charity Skills for Care’s annual report, published today. …”

https://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2018/09/social-care-staff-turnover-rises

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25 Sep 2018

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Audit (EDDC), Austerity cuts, Business Rates, Developers/ Development, EDDC, High Street decline

Resuscitating high streets – or are they too far gone already?

Owl is noticing more and more empty shops – even in places that seemed to be weathering the High Street decline so far (eg Sidmouth).

Isn’t it time our council did an audit of our high streets (empty shops, open shops, temporary pop-up shops, local-owned independent, chain stores, charity shops) to get a proper idea of just how bad this problem is in each town and what the mix says about the health of each town centre? And time to come up with a strategy for their future?

“… Charges to withdraw money from cash machines would be scrapped under a Labour government to “save Britain’s high streets”.

Attempts to stop their “slow agonising death” were announced by shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey with a range of measures – including stopping Post Office closures.

Sky News can reveal Labour would draw up a register of landlords of empty shops in every local authority.

And the party would deliver free public wi-fi in town centres, for those having a coffee or working in community spaces.

The plans are due to be announced on Tuesday by Ms Bailey at Labour’s autumn conference in Liverpool.

She is aiming to boost support for the party in British towns, as leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested a general election could be called imminently.

Brexit secretary Dominic Raab insisted on Sunday that “it’s not going to happen”.

Research by Which? published in June found that the free-to-use ATM network was “under threat”.

The idea to ban them was championed by Labour MP Ged Killen, who welcomed the party’s announcement.

“No one should ever have to pay to access their own money,” he told Sky News.

“If any government is serious about economic development in our towns and high streets they need to protect the financial infrastructure people and business rely on.”

The other plans would see post offices owned by the government stopped from further franchising and closing.

Under-25s will also get free bus travel in local authorities where local bus services are either franchised or publicly owned.

Labour has also promised to “work with” councils to extend wi-fi roll-outs by commercial developers in public spaces.

And it will force shop landlords to make their identity and contact details public, creating an empty shop register to “make it easier to bring empty units into use”.

A new annual business rates re-evaluation will also be introduced. …”

https://news.sky.com/story/labour-would-scrap-atm-charges-in-bid-to-save-high-streets-11507872

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24 Sep 2018

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, DCC, Local Government Finance

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Think things are bad now for councils? It is going to get MUCH worse

“England’s county councils are to outline another wave of cuts, with almost £1bn needed in reductions to balance the books next February.

Startling analysis by the County Councils Network (CCN) warned that local authorities will set out £685m in savings and cuts next February; alongside an additional £233m of ‘unplanned’ frontline service cuts, unless the government provides these councils with new funding next year.

One of the root causes behind the major savings drives include significant overspends in areas such as children’s services: the CCN noted that county authorities have overspent £264m on the sector in the face of “unprecedented demand” for the services.

County authorities around the country are facing similar dire straits when it comes to financial difficulties: last week Somerset County Council approved major cuts worth £13m to services, and last month said they will need to cut more than 100 jobs to make the necessary savings to meet their budget.

The CCN noted that under soaring demand for care services, more resources will need to be diverted to compensate; extra charges could therefore be introduced, as well as increasing reductions to non-social care expenditure such as roads, libraries, economic growth services, and bus routes.

Leader of Leicestershire County Council and finance spokesman for the CCN Nick Rushton said: “County councils across the country have no choice but find a further £1bn of savings next year. Choices will be limited and reductions to front line services inevitable: with valued services such as pothole and highway repairs, children’s centres, libraries and increased charges for residents all on the agenda.

“There is not enough money today to run vital services. Next year there is even less from the drop in government funding, expiry of the social care grant and the ending of the social care precept for some councils. We will have to once again ask our residents to pay, but we are at the point where council tax rises alone are not going to protect services.

Cllr Rushton added unless the government intervenes and provides new funding, councils will have “no choice” but to outline the cuts in budgets next February. With councils using at least £185m of reserves this year, their ability to draw down the same levels next year to offset cuts is limited.

Chairman of the Local Government Association Lord Porter, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and the CCN will be giving their thoughts on the local government funding crisis in PSE’s upcoming magazine: hitting desks 8 October.”

Source: County Councils Network

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24 Sep 2018

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Austerity cuts, Privatisation, Sleaze

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Should utilities be renationalised? Probably, if this is anything to go by!

“Owners of Britain’s largest water companies use offshore tax havens as they load up the firms with £24bn of debt:

“The owners of Britain’s largest water companies used offshore tax havens as they loaded up the firms with £24bn of debt.

Thames Water, Anglian, Southern and Yorkshire Water – which jointly supply almost 30m people – are billions of pounds in the red and paid no corporation tax last year.

Critics claim their debts were racked up by owners to drive down tax bills and extract huge profits.

The Paradise Papers have shone a light on the use of offshore tax havens by the rich and famous – but they are also popular with utility firms.

Thames, Anglian, Southern and Yorkshire all used offshore firms to borrow money. In total from all forms of financing, Thames now owes £10.5bn, Anglian owes £6.8bn, Southern owes £3.5bn, and Yorkshire owes £3.7bn.

Utilities financing expert Martin Blaiklock said: ‘How much of that cheap money has just been going straight into the pockets of the owners as opposed to benefiting the customers?’

The four firms set up subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands more than a decade ago to get around rules in the UK preventing them from raising cash on the bond markets. Although those rules have since been scrapped, many continued to use the offshore firms.

Often interest payments made through havens do not incur tax as they would in the UK.

Analysis of accounts by the Mail suggests money has been lent between different parts of the companies, generating interest payments that reduce taxable profits.

Southern Water Services Ltd paid £133.6m in interest during 2016-17 to Cayman subsidiary Southern Water Services (Finance).

Southern Water Services Ltd ended the year with an £84.9m tax credit.

Thames Water Utilities Ltd paid £356.8m on interest on inter-company loans and ended up with a tax credit of £70.3m. The firm has paid no corporation tax since 2006.

Anglian Water Services Ltd paid £286.5m in interest to subsidiaries while earning £192m in interest from other parts of the company. It ended the year with a tax credit of £37.9m. Anglian Water group has issued bonds via a UK company with a Cayman holding company it says is dormant.

Yorkshire Water Services Ltd paid £198m interest on inter-company loans and ended up with a £101.5m tax credit.

Thames’s former owner Macquarie and fellow shareholders paid themselves £2.6bn in dividends between 2006 and last year, while the firm faces huge fines for leaks. Water firms stress they are allowed to delay corporation tax to encourage investment. Anglian said it had invested £1bn in the region and paid £210m in taxes.

Ofwat, the water regulator, is unhappy about the offshore structures, warning the sector faces a huge crisis of public trust.

It also wants companies to bring debt down, and is expected to introduce tougher rules on the amount they can charge customers.

Aileen Armstrong, senior director for finance and governance at Ofwat said: ‘It’s clear that many people don’t like the idea of public monopoly utility companies relying on complex financial arrangements.’ Yorkshire Water says it plans to close its subsidiary. Thames and Anglian have also indicated they might do so.

A Thames Water spokesman said both Thames and its Cayman financing company were resident in the UK for tax purposes.

He said: ‘There is no tax benefit associated with the companies being registered in the Cayman Islands and the companies operate and are managed wholly from our UK office.’

An Anglian Water spokesman said its Cayman firm is dormant and serves no purpose.

He added: ‘As Anglian Water has always been registered in the UK for tax, it therefore does not, and never has, benefited from any tax advantage from this.’

A Southern Water spokesman said the firm is resident in the UK for tax purposes and that ‘there is no tax benefit’ to its Cayman Islands structure.

Yorkshire Water said it was taking steps to remove unnecessary offshore structures and pays all tax in full.

Finance director Liz Barber added: ‘Our policy is not to enter into transactions that have a main purpose of gaining a tax advantage and not to make interpretations of tax law that are opposed to the original published intention of the law.’ “

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-5078471/Britain-s-water-firms-flush-profits-tax-havens.html

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23 Sep 2018

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Claire Wright, DCC, Health and Social Care (local), Martin Shaw (Seaton), NHS (local), Scrutiny, Transparency

“NHS meeting deemed ‘too political’ for South Devon and Torbay CCG”

From last month:

“If you’re one of those poor saps who just wants the NHS to keep on running and stay away from privatisation, you may be surprised to hear that this is all just a little bit too ‘political’ for the South Devon and Torbay Clinical Commissioning Group.

Commissioning Groups are ‘clinically-led statutory NHS bodies responsible for the planning and commissioning of health care services for their local area’. They were set up by the Tories in cahoots with the Lib Dems, reneging on the promise of no reorganising of the NHS.

Meanwhile, Devon is seeing hospitals close, bed disappear and services stretched. (There may well be something like a Hospital-Air-B&B type of arrangment in the offing, too.)

The Torbay and South Devon Trades Council have arranged a meeting at The Acorn Centre on August 23rd from 6.30pm to 830pm on ‘NHS Health and Social Care Can it Survive as a Public Service’.

NHS… not for health professionals

After seeing the five-point agenda (see below, 1 is an introduction, 4 and 5 are questions) the Clinical Commissioning Group for Torbay and South Devon decided that the topics are for politicians and not for health professionals.

This is despite them being ‘clinically-led statutory NHS bodies responsible for the planning and commissioning of health care services for their local area’.

Hey ho.”

http://www.theprsd.co.uk/2018/08/14/nhs-meeting-deemed-too-political-for-south-devon-and-torbay-ccg/

Owl says: not to worry, it is too political for the DCC Health and Wellbeing Committee too, which rushes all CCG changes through at super-fast speed and on the nod from majority Tory block-voting councillors- too much politics obviously beeing too much for their (and our) pretty little heads.

Despite Independent Councillor Claire Wright and EDA Independent Councillor Martin Shaw really, really wanting a political (and ethical) debate.

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21 Sep 2018

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Cornwall, Local Government Finance

Cornwall unitary approaching the rocks at speed

“Cornwall to cut hundreds of jobs in bid to save £80m and avoid Northants-style disaster:

However, the proposed cuts are only the equivalent of 388 full-time jobs.

According to a report ahead of the council’s Cabinet meeting today, the amount of jobs to be cut will reduce to 167 after mitigations such as reducing the amount spent on agency staff.

It is not yet clear where in the council’s services the jobs will be cut from, but the report noted that workforce reductions will be delivered in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty, the Councils Equality of Opportunity Policy and Organisational Change Toolkits and guidance.

The report also said that, as funding from central government continues to fall and demand for public services increases, the council must find a further £77m of savings over the next four years on top of the £300m of savings it has already delivered.

Cornwall Council has seen significant cuts to its central grant funding since austerity began in 2010, according to the report. There has been a reduction of about 40% from 2009-10 to 2018-19, during which time £300m in savings have been made.

“Whilst the council is in a sound financial position, with a strong track record of delivering its budgets supported by reserves, it cannot continue to deliver the savings required year on year and deliver a balanced budget without impacting upon the delivery of services,” the report warned.

The report even went as far as pointing to recent events in Northamptonshire, Somerset and East Sussex to illustrate the challenges facing local government, particularly for those local authorities responsible for providing social care.

“Cornwall Council does not want to face the position currently faced by these authorities of only providing services at the statutory minimum,” it concluded.”

http://www.publicsectorexecutive.com/Public-Sector-News/cornwall-to-cut-hundreds-of-jobs-in-bid-to-save-80m-and-avoid-northants-style-disaster

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20 Sep 2018

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Conflict of interest, Local Enterprise Partnership, Local Government Finance, Scrutiny, Transparency

What happens if most English local authorities fail due to inadequate funding?

Owl has a theory.

Their money (but with fewer responsibilities and much less scrutiny) will immediately be passed to Local Enterprise Partnerships!

Unelected, unaccountable, barely scrutinised they will be free to use our money however they wish. And responsible only to government.

A score of unelected business people of dubious quality, dubious expertise and with complex conflicts of interest get full power.

What could possibly go wrong?

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20 Sep 2018

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, DCC, Education (local), Local Government Finance

“Devon has fewer good and outstanding schools and excluded pupil numbers are rising”

“Exclusion rates in Devon have risen above the national average while the number of schools rated as Good or Outstanding has fallen.

The figures for 2016/17 were revealed in a report to Devon County Council’s children scrutiny committee on Monday.

Dawn Stabb, head of education and learning at Devon County Council, told the committee that steps have already been taken through the Devon inclusion project to address the significant rise in exclusion figures and that Ofsted are being more rigorous in their grading.

The report said that Devon’s Permanent Exclusions have risen from 0.09 per cent of the pupil population to 0.14 per cent in 2016/17, and that permanent exclusions in Devon primary and secondary schools were slightly higher than nationally, 0.07 per cent in Devon primary schools compared to 0.03 per cent nationally, and 0.22 per cent in Devon secondary schools compared to 0.20 per cent nationally. “

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/devon-fewer-good-outstanding-schools-2025902

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20 Sep 2018

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, DCC, EDDC, Health and Social Care (local), Local Government Finance

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“£1bn in unpalatable county council cuts’ ahead in England”

“Council bosses in England say the “worst is yet to come” in cuts to services, as the government further reduces local authority funding.
The County Council Network predicts “unpalatable cutbacks” next year as the councils identify at least £1bn savings to plug a £1.5bn shortfall by 2020.

It also warns the risk of some councils stripping their services back to a minimum ‘core offer’ is growing.

The government said councils will get a real term funding increase in 2018-19.

It insists its approach strikes the right balance between relieving pressure on local government and ensuring taxpayers do not face excessive bills.

‘Cost-pressures’

But town hall bosses say local government funding from central government, through the revenue support grant, will have been cut by around 60% by 2020.
Cllr Paul Carter, chairman of the County Council Network and leader of Kent County Council said: “Counties will work hard to deliver the savings required, but the scope for making deliverable savings has dramatically reduced, and decisions for next year will be truly unpalatable if we are to fulfil our statutory duties.

“Without additional resource, the worst is yet to come.”

Some councils have reached a financial crunch point, such as Northampton – where £70m of savings are required by March.

And Somerset and East Sussex have had to rubber-stamp in-year funding cuts to keep to their 2018-19 budgets.

The County Council Network, which represents 36 larger authorities, surveyed its members about their budgets and what they planned to cut next year.

All 36 responded said they faced significant cost pressures, including a growth in demand in some areas – particularly children’s and adult social care, inflation and rising costs outside of their control.

The survey revealed council bosses had already ear-marked £1bn worth of services as potential sources of savings.

Some £685m of those are to balance the books going forward.

Twenty five councils who responded to a separate survey, set out what they were planning to cut, moderately or severely:

58% said highways and transport (including road improvements, streetlights, pothole filling)
47% said libraries
45% said early years and youth clubs.
44% ear-marked public health services like smoking cessation, sexual health, substance misuse
36% said children’s services.

Councils say they are expecting to have to switch funds from non-statutory services – the ones they are not obliged to provide by law – to ensure statutory services are provided.

Councillor Nick Rushton, CCN finance spokesman and leader of Leicestershire County Council, said authorities were in a “serious and extremely challenging financial position” and further cuts and rising costs would make a “bad situation even worse”.

“County councils across the country have no choice but to find a further £1bn of savings next year,” he said.

“There is not enough money today to run vital services. Next year there is even less from the drop in government funding.”

He added that councils were again at the point where council tax rises alone would not protect services.

Councillor Martin Hill, leader of Lincolnshire County Council, said his authority had to save £25m a year since 2010.

He said it would soon come to a point where the council would have to consider whether it can operate safely with regard to its responsibilities to vulnerable children and adults.

A Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government spokesman said local authorities were responsible for their own funding decisions, “but over the next two years, we are providing councils with £90.7bn to help them meet the needs of their residents”.

They said local councils would have the power to retain the growth in income from business rates and develop a system for the future.”“

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-45573921

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19 Sep 2018

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Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Austerity cuts, Developers/ Development, Housing (local), Inequality, Spin

Buying votes with new social housing – but only after 2022!

Throughout this government’s term those in social housing have been demonised as scroungers and workshy. The government instead chose to line the pockets of already-rich developers and people being helped to buy houses that cost up to £600,000.

Today, as Brexit continues to be a shambles, education is at breaking point, inequality is at its widest, the environment is being trashed and the NHS is on its knees, May announces that, in fact, people in council houses are mostly hard-working people trying desperately to make ends meet. And that occupying such housing should not be a “stigma”!

So what changed?

Nothing, except that more and more people are deserting her party and their votes are, of course, going with them – to people like Claire Wright, for example. And to other feisty independent councillors such as East Devon Alliance’s Gardner, Rixon, Jung and Shaw.

Read the fine print on this housing. It is not promised until 2022 – when Tories may well not be in power and when our economic climate could be very different.

And if you want to know who thinks social housing is a stigma, read here:

“… Housing Secretary James Brokenshire, asked who Mrs May saw as the politicians who “look down” on social housing, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think it’s more a sort of a greater public perception, sadly.”

Pressed further if there are Conservative politicians who take this view, Mr Brokenshire again referred to a “general stigma” which he said was a feeling among tenants who were consulted for a Government policy paper. … “

http://www.itv.com/news/2018-09-19/pm-to-push-for-social-housing-reform-amid-second-rate-citizen-stigma-concern/

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18 Sep 2018

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Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Austerity cuts, Developers/ Development, Housing (local), Land banking, Sleaze

“Landowners Pocket £13bn Profit In One Year Just For Getting Planning Permission”

Is there an election in the air? Tories talking about removing the “stigma” of social housing! You know, the housing they don’t build because, as George Osborne said – why would you when Labour supporters live in them!

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-refused-to-build-social-housing-because-it-would-create-labour-voters-nick-clegg-says-a7223796.html

“Landowners pocketed a staggering £13bn in profit last year simply for securing planning permission while a housing crisis continues to grip the nation.

Research by the Centre for Progressive Policy and the National Housing Federation has unmasked how land-holders are raising massive sums simply for being a proprietor.

Agricultural land now becomes 275 times more expensive once it receives planning permission, even before a single home is built. This is a huge uplift from just two years ago when planning permission increased the value of farmland by around 100 times.

It means proprietors are effectively sitting on a goldmine once planners green-light development on a site they own.

The CPP and NHF report found landowners’ combined profits were more than the global profits of Amazon, McDonald’s and Coca Cola combined and has increased by £4bn over the course of two years to reach £13bn.

Theresa May is due to announce that £2bn of Government funds will be directed towards housing associations to give them long-term certainty they need to build homes.

But the NHF and CPP say a radical overhaul is needed so some land sales profits can be captured and ploughed into the public purse for new affordable housing and infrastructure, such as roads.

David Orr, chief executive of the NHS, said: “This research shows the astronomical sums that landowners have been able to pocket, before they even build a single new home. At the same time, the numbers of people in desperate need of social housing is sky rocketing – we have to build 90,000 new homes for social rent every year to meet this need.

“In the face of a disastrous housing crisis, it is clear that the the broken housing market is simply not delivering. What’s more, the way we buy and sell land is the key cause. Now, we need a fundamental rethink to tackle this fundamental problem.”

It comes as house prices and demand for social homes soar, with housing associations trying to build council housing for poorer families increasingly outbid on land by private developers.

May, who will address the National Housing Federation Summit in London on Wednesday, said the £2bn will be separate to the £9bn of public funding put toward the existing affordable homes programme until 2022.

She will also focus on ending what she calls the “stigma” attached to social housing, claiming some view tenants are “not second-rate citizens”.

The PM will say: “Some residents feel marginalised and overlooked, and are ashamed to share the fact that their home belongs to a housing association or local authority.

“On the outside, many people in society – including too many politicians – continue to look down on social housing and, by extension, the people who call it their home.”

Gavin Smart, deputy chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said recognition of the social housing sector from the PM was welcome, and added: “But, as the Prime Minister recognises in her speech, it’s crucial that government investment helps housing associations to build the right kind of homes at the right prices.

“In practice this means building more homes at the lowest social rents – which is often the only truly affordable option for people on lower incomes.”

Labour also hit out at the Government plans.

John Healey, Shadow Housing Secretary, said: “Theresa May’s promises fall far short of what’s needed.

“The reality is spending on new affordable homes has been slashed so the number of new social rented homes built last year fell to the lowest level since records began.”

The English housing survey 2016/17 reported that 3.9 million households, approximately nine million people, lived in the social rented sector – which was 17% of households in the country.

The survey added 10% rented from housing associations and 7% from local authorities.

By contrast, 20% of households were private rented and 63% owner-occupied.”

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/landowners-pocket-ps13bn-profit-in-one-year-just-for-getting-planning-permission_uk_5ba12638e4b046313fbfe3ee

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18 Sep 2018

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Council tax, Local Government Finance, Somerset County Council

“Somerset [Tories] blames ‘broken’ [Tory] funding system for major cuts”

Too little too late, councillors. You froze your council tax and submitted yourselves willingly (nay, enthusiastically) to austerity – now reap your “reward”. Or rather cause your voters to suffer for your blind adherence over these years to the party line.

“Youth services, learning disability support and reserves contributions will be hit under new plans approved by the council.

Savings of £13m over the remainder of this financial year and £15m in total in 2019-20 are expected to be made through the plans, ratified by the council last Monday.

The young carers service was the only area given a ‘stay of execution’ while the council discusses with the carers and the families where else they could get support, such as voluntary groups. This service could still be cut.

Council leader David Fothergill said: “This is not the biggest set of savings Somerset has faced. But it is absolutely the most difficult set of decisions we have had to consider.”

He added: “The government model for funding local authorities is broken.

“Rural councils like ours don’t get the funding they need or deserve.

“I have taken every opportunity to lobby and fight to address this, but there has been no extra funding. That is hugely disappointing.”

The council also wants to make savings in areas including winter gritting, park and ride services and funding to Citizens Advice Bureau services.

Fothergill said he would be writing to the secretary of state to ask for help before the next budget.

As reported by PF in July, the council ruled out issuing a Section 114 notice, as Northamptonshire council did earlier this year. It did say at the time it would have to make “urgent decisions” to address its financial position.

The council will be consulting on proposals for councillors and staff to take two days’ unpaid leave for the next two years. Unite union has criticised this idea, saying it was “a step too far”.

Elsewhere, Fife Council is faced with a £32m budget gap by 2022, according to a council report.

The Scottish council will have to make savings of 5% every year to plug gaps in its finances, the report put to the council’s policy and coordination committee said.

The council predicted its budget gap will rise from £9.4m in 2019-20 to £23.1m in 2020-21 and reach £32.1m in 2021-22.

The report said the biggest budget pressures faced by the council include children’s services and education (48%) and health and social care (17%).

The council has been contacted for comment.”

https://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2018/09/somerset-blames-broken-funding-system-major-cuts

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17 Sep 2018

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Austerity cuts, Education (local)

“Sixth formers most affected by education cuts, says think-tank”

“The education funding squeeze for 16 to 18 year olds in England is “clear and worrying”, a think-tank report has said.

Funding per student in school sixth forms has fallen by 21% since its peak in 2010-11, according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

The IFS said that the “severe squeeze” on school spending, which has seen spending per pupil fall by 8% between 2009-10 and 2017-18, has been driven by a 55% cut to local authority spending on services.

The report, out today, which was funded by charitable trust the Nuffield Foundation, said that school sixth forms have borne the brunt of budget cuts at 21% per student while further education and sixth-form college funding per student has fallen by about 8% since 2010-11.

By 2019-20, funding per young person in further education will be at about the same level as in 2006-7 – only 10% higher than it was thirty years earlier in 1989-90, according to the IFS.

Total funding for adult education and apprenticeships has fallen by 45% since 2009-10.

Tim Gardham, chief executive of the Nuffield Foundation, said: “The fall in further education spending is clear and worrying.

“The IFS analysis questions the capacity of the system to successfully deliver the reforms currently underway without additional funding.

“Neglect in investment in one educational stage has knock-on effects for others, from the point of view of the individual student and the education system as a whole.”

Research by the think-tank also showed a large increase in spending on early years education – spending on three- and four-year-old entitlement to early education – has risen from “almost nothing” in early 1990s to around £3bn in 2017-18.

But, early years spending in other areas fallen, including a 13% drop in childcare subsidies between 2009-10 and 2017-18 and a 67% reduction in spending on children’s Sure Start centres. …”

https://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2018/09/sixth-formers-most-affected-education-cuts-says-think-tank

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16 Sep 2018

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Austerity cuts, Axminster, East Devon economy, EDDC, Transport (local)

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Axminster by-pass – east or west?

East: developers of eastern extension to the town have to chip in = cheaper solution

West: no developer funding but solves the problem of Weycroft Mill bottleneck = more expensive solution.

Owl’s guess: no common sense or forward planning = cheapest wins

“Axminster Town Council has called a special meeting to discuss plans for the town’s long awaited north-south relief road.

It follows growing concerns about the current ‘preferred’ route and will take place on Thursday, September 27, at 7.30pm in The Guildhall. It will be open to the public.

Under present proposals the £20million scheme takes the road to the East of the town, emerging on the Lyme Road.

But campaigners are becoming increasingly worried that this will not solve the major problem of the Weycroft Bridge bottleneck.

And there are calls that the alternative route – to the west of the town – should be looked at again, despite its much higher cost.

* East Devon District Council has appointed consultants to produce a masterplan for the bypass and the associated housing development which will help to fund it, following its successful bid for £10 million government money towards the project.”

http://www.midweekherald.co.uk/news/campaigners-want-route-to-go-west-of-the-town-1-5695852