ON the face of it, a new piece of academic research suggests that councils are doing what they can to protect the most disadvantaged in society from the worst of the cuts.
According to the study by researchers at the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, Glasgow University and Heriot-Watt University, councils are planning to target the cuts more at services that are most used by the better-off, such as galleries and museums, rather than those that are more often used by the poorest in society, such as social work services. The aim is to protect the most vulnerable from the sharp end of the cutbacks.
But there should be no illusions about what is really going on. Scotland’s councils are right to do what they can to protect the most disadvantaged, but the scale of the savings imposed by the Scottish Government mean there is a serious limit on what councils can do.
In 2016-17, the local government revenue settlement fell by £349million in cash terms, meaning a reduction of more than half a billion once inflation is taken into account. And since the vast majority of local government spending – around two-thirds - is on services used by lower income groups, that means the cuts will undoubtedly have a serious impact on the most disadvantaged.
In the short term, focusing cuts on services that are used more by the better-off will lesson some of the impact, but it is no more than that: a short-term measure. In the longer term, council budgets are likely to be cut further and, while the council tax freeze is due to end next year, local authorities will not be able to raise the tax by more than three per cent. In other words, councils will continue to do what they can, but in reality there is no prospect of a serious improvement in budgets and that means the most disadvantaged will continue to suffer.
The potential impact on social care and social work services is particularly troubling. Again, councils have tried to do what they can, but in concentrating on statutory services, they have instead cut discretionary but valuable services such as early intervention schemes to help young people from troubled backgrounds.
The integration of Scotland’s health and social care services has also started with a £13m deficit and councils are faced with helping to fund the minimum wage for care workers. The Government has provided an extra £250m for social care but the money has gone to the NHS rather than councils. What it amounts to is that the effect of the cuts on the most disadvantaged is real and serious and will only get worse as the capacity of councils to protect the poorest diminishes.
In the short term, as the new study makes clear, councils are trying to lessen the impact, but in the long term, there is only one answer: more funding for council services. Councils themselves have a responsibility to save money by sharing services much more than they do, but the Government must also live up to its promise to radically reform council tax so that the better-off pay more. It must also accept the reality that cannot be avoided: building and protecting council services that can care for people when they need it will require more resources.
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