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Adam Hewitt
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Roy V. Rowlands
royv@cognitivepublishing.com Eric Pickles’ answer to this
conundrum at the LGA conference just wasn’t good enough:
he
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said councils can do more to be masters of their own destiny by changing the way they deliver services. But without s ig nif ic ant changes to the way social care is funded, this just makes for more efficient stacking of deckchairs on the Titanic. The current system is unfair on both individuals and local authorities, but the Treasury isn’t happy with anything that involves higher
local authorities were dealing just with year-on-year cuts to their income,
then service
transformation, efficiency and job cuts might just about bridge the gap.
But the fact is, demands for some of the most complex and expensive services – most notably adult social care – are forecast to accelerate in the coming years, making the task all but impossible. Hence the much talked about Barnet graph of doom, showing how lower income plus higher demand on social services leaves literally no money for anything else within a decade.
The potential scale of this problem really does dwarf everything else, and just undermines every other brave and innovative thing that our councils are doing to save money and revolutionise service delivery. Clearly this problem is Parliament’s, not just Pickles’, but we do need a better answer.
Growth – and the tax revenues it brings – is a part of this solution. But local authorities are divided on the business rates plan: those in more rural areas, and with populations that skew more towards residential than business, say they stand to lose out, though the Government has insisted they won’t. But with a set sum of money, it’s either
Doom and gloom? If
taxpayer commitments either (i.e. Dilnot).
redistributed based on need, or those who do more to ‘earn’ it get to keep more of it. It can’t be both – though obviously in the long term, the Government hopes that giving councils more incentive to boost local growth rates will increase the total amount to go round. But the compromise plan as it stands seems to please nobody.
In saying that, there was still much good news at this year’s LGA conference, and elsewhere in this edition of PSE there’s plenty of interesting and even inspiring work going on elsewhere in the public sector to genuinely improve public services.
Adam Hewitt Editor
12 Breaking barriers
Financial help for disabled people seeking election.
18 Regional pay
The New Economics Foundation disputes the evidence.
33 Over the counter
The Post Office wants to deliver more public services.
68 Flood risk
Long-term strategies to deal with flooding in the UK.
public sector executive Jul/Aug 12 | 1
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