Choice of two threads ... the newer one or the MAIN LA thread ... posted on both !
( Main thread : https://www.carersuk.org/forum/news-and ... 20cutbacks )
The infamous " Yorkshire Men " sketch performed by the Monty Python team springs to mind ... which manors have been hit hardest ... yep , it's grim up north ?
And ... surprise , surprise , funding social care through LAs ... oh dear , dare I mention the main GREEN PAPER thread as well ?
Interlocking ... the bane of this forum !
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Council cuts have " Hit cities and north hardest. "
Cities and urban areas across Britain have been " Hit hardest " by cuts to local government funding, a report says.
Centre for Cities said built-up areas lost an average of £386 per head over the past eight years.
It said councils in the north of England were " Less able to raise money locally " than those in the south.
The government has promised councils a "real-terms increase" in spending power for 2019 to 2020.
While authorities that got into severe financial difficulty, such as Northamptonshire County Council, had " Grabbed the attention ", urban areas in the north of England had seen the biggest cuts to council spending over the past eight years, Centre for Cities said.
Jobs axed
The think-tank said Barnsley was the "hardest hit" area in Britain, with 40% cuts to its day-to-day spending in 2017-18 compared to 2009-10.
Sir Stephen Houghton, leader of Barnsley Council, said the authority had lost £107m due to funding cuts and had axed four out of 10 jobs.
He added the cuts had forced the council to make "unpopular decisions" such as increasing council tax.
Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones, said: "The significant funding pressures in relation to adults and children's social care needs to be addressed nationally, and not left to local authorities to address through council tax."
Urban areas in the north of England saw their spending cut by an average of 20%, compared to 9% for those in the south-west, east and south-east of England.
Centre for Cities said Liverpool saw the largest cuts per person, losing the equivalent of £816 for every resident, although it also included neighbouring Knowsley in its analysis.
The think-tank's analysis looked at "primary urban areas", which are largely built-up. It found Newcastle-upon-Tyne, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Gateshead had seen spending fall nearly 27%.
Stoke-on-Trent, together with Newcastle-under-Lyme, had seen spending fall about 24%; while Glasgow's fall of 23% of spending included East Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire.
" Economically weaker "
Centre for Cities chief executive Andrew Carter said: "Councils have managed as best they can, but the continued singling-out of local government for cuts cannot continue. There is a very real risk that many of our largest councils will in the near future become little more than social care providers.
"The cities most affected are economically weaker and have been less able to absorb the loss of central government funding."
The County Councils Network said all local authorities, not just cities and urban areas, had been affected by funding cuts as well as rising demand for services such as adult social care.
Its director Simon Edwards said: "Counties have not benefitted from higher levels of business rate income, revenue from housing growth, and much higher per-person funding for public services."
The government said councils would share an "extra £1.3 billion" of funding from 2019 to 2020.
Grim ... and clearly shows the North / South divide ... with the South still catching up.
The South has lost a finger , the North an arm ?
The main thread has followed this.
Needless to add , yet another interlocking thread ... the real effect of rise in Council Tax ... so far , the only remedy available to
LAs to raise monies ... and the further devastation that is causing at the lower end of the income scale.
https://www.carersuk.org/forum/support- ... hilit=roof
Worth repeating the words of the Major of Liverpool here ... just in case some readers were not aware of them :
"Nearly 50% of our Council Tax budget is now spent on supporting the most vulnerable people in our city," he says.
"We also have around £35m in uncollected Council Tax and about £25m of that is from people who are on benefits and who are receiving support payments from us.
"How can I take someone to court for not paying Council Tax, who is actually already on benefits that we are paying to them? It is a totally perverse situation."
