How The Cuts Will Hit London’s Councils

Image from Londonist website

For months the impact of major cuts in public services has been anticipated – and tonight (Tuesday, December 21) at the Civic Centre, Haringey Council will be discussing details of its first round of cuts before a consultation process in the New Year. The map above shows the impact of the cuts across London Councils. Haringey will fare worse than Enfield in percentage terms – but major cuts to front-line services are anticipated in both of our local boroughs.

Last Friday (17th Dec) Haringey council released detailed plans for more than £28 million of savings between 2011 and 2014. Haringey has set out the chilling scale of cuts in public services needed to balance a £87 million black hole in the budget over the next three years. Further measures will be announced in the New Year. The Government is making Haringey find more than half of the savings - £46 million - in the next year alone, with further cuts of around £20 million in each of the following two years.

But it is when these huge numbers are explained in terms of cuts to the everyday services on which vulnerable people rely that the impact really hits home.

Four residential homes care for older people pensioners will close and seven drop-in and day centres providing vital social contact and support for older people will also be shut, including our local service, the  Woodside Day Centre in Wood Green, used by 45 vulnerable older people, saving £149,000.

Jobs are set to go at libraries and Tottenham's Bruce Castle Museum and some council managers will be axed saving £2.5 million alone. At the other end of the scale, free tea and coffee vending machines in council offices will be scrapped, saving £50,000 annually, and allotment fees will rise by £9 per plot.

The closures will result in the complete loss of day care services for older people across the borough, except for dementia sufferers, and the council’s in-house home care service, offering personal care to vulnerable adults, will also cease saving £1.06 million.

But it’s not just services for older residents – at a time when it is increasingly difficult to get a job, Connexions careers advice service for vulnerable young people are to be reduced by 75 per cent saving £1.64 million.

I can’t help thinking that the short term nature of these “savings”is simply storing up bigger problems and further expenses down the line. A reduction in support for young unemployed people will lead to more disaffected young people locally. Not supporting older people in their own homes is likely to hasten a move to expensive residential care – where it still exists.

More than 1,000 jobs are at risk in Haringey and redunancy costs are likely to cost the council in the region of £10-20 million. Further savings plans are being drawn up and will be revealed in January and a balanced budget for 2011-2012 must be agreed by the Haringey’s Full Council in February.

Enfield although facing a smaller percentage cut is facing a cumulative loss of £138 million over the next four years and Enfield too is undergoing a process of evaluation with residents asked to participate in the consultation before January 15th . Whatever the results of the consultations it’s startlingly clear that many vulnerable people who have relied on local authority services will no longer get the support they have previously been entitled to. The unanswered question is what will happen to those local people who are not able to support themselves and who will provide the care being withdrawn by our local authorities?