Government grant shifts scarce resources from north to south

A new study by UNISON, the UKs largest union, has revealed that the Governments New Homes Bonus Scheme is draining scarce resources away from the recession hit north, to wealthier parts of the country in the south.

Money for the new homes scheme is deducted from local council grants and then redistributed - not on the basis of need or population - but to areas where most new homes are built which largely depends on decisions made by private developers. Building firms meanwhile are unsurprisingly shying away from poorer areas that have been hit hardest by the recession and choosing to build in areas where the profit potential is greatest.

The union is demanding that the Government puts a stop to deprived areas being penalised in this way.

A table of individual councils across England shows the scale of the loss with more than 60 per cent of the money spread between London, the South East, East of England and South West. Among the top of the losers list are Oldham, Knowsley, Liverpool, Wirral. South Tyneside, Gateshead and Newcastle.

Oldham (loses £1 and gets back 0.11p) and Knowsley (loses £1 and gets back 15p), while the biggest winners are Uttlesford (gets back £19.34 for every £1 lost), Basingstoke and Deane (gets back £18.70 for every £1 lost) and Forest Heath (gets back £15.80 for every £1 lost).

Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, said:

It is grossly unfair that the Government is using its New Homes Bonus scheme to shift scarce resources from the hard hit north to wealthier parts of the south. Over 60 per cent of money is spread between London, the South East, East of England and South West. It cannot be a coincidence that the Tory heartland is where most money is being directed.

To most people it is obvious that private developers will be slow to build new homes in areas where the recession is biting deepest. What is less obvious is that the money for New Homes Bonus is deducted from the money that councils are supposed to get from the Government. It is being top-sliced from the formula grant and redistributed via the New Homes Bonus. And because it is distributed differently - not on the basis of need or population - councils in the south are getting much more than their fair share.

Fuel poverty !!

UNISON is calling for action not words from politicians to address the rising fuel poverty crisis facing families across the UK, following a new report from the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee today (20 December).

While the government’s own fuel poverty advisory group is reporting that another 300,000 families have descended into fuel poverty since last Christmas, UNISON has called the fact that families will be facing the Dickensian dilemma of ‘heat or eat’ in modern Britain a ‘scandal’.

UNISON’s national officer for energy Matthew Lay said:

“As Christmas draws near, families are facing a desperate situation fuelled by the greed of energy companies and government inertia. It is a national disgrace that in modern Britain families should face the choice of ‘heat or eat’. “Sadly the reforms promised in the government’s recent Energy Bill will actually make matters worse. The costs of implementing the recommendations are to be passed down to the consumer, adding yet more to already sky-high household bills. It also ignores the simple fact that profits and dividends among all the energy companies are on the increase and many of them are on the must-buy list of stock-broking firms.”

“Words are not enough, it is time for action.”

The union is calling for radical government action involving using some of the money it gets from carbon taxes to help make homes super-energy efficient – with excellent insulation, renewable energy and modern boilers. This would reduce energy usage, reduce bills and importantly put people back to work providing decent employment opportunities. It could start straight away and turn around the fortunes for families across the UK.

UNISON has seen increased demands on its own charity ‘there for you’ for help this winter and is providing help and assistance to many this Christmas.

UNISON demands 'Fair Pay Now'

UNISON, the UK’s largest union is calling for “Fair Pay Now” for council workers, as a new survey reveals that hundreds and thousands of workers are suffering from a whole raft of extra cuts to their terms and conditions.

On top of a three year pay freeze, the survey, which covers 264 councils across England and Wales, shows car allowances, weekend enhancements, overtime and mileage rates, as well as redundancy pay are being hardest hit. But significant numbers reported cuts to contracted hours and pay, shift and call out payments, bank holiday rates and 23% reported school staff being moved onto less favourable “term-time only” contracts.

Heather Wakefield, UNISON Head of Local Government, said:

“Local Government workers and their families are really hurting. The three year pay freeze means that, since 2009, pay has fallen by a shocking 13%.

“Our survey shows that, to add insult to injury, council workers are also seeing their terms and conditions being slowly but surely chipped away. Many of those being hit hardest are the low paid working in home and residential care as well as sheltered housing and schools, where shift payments are a critical element of their incomes.

“We are asking for fair pay now to restore pay levels and bring them in line with inflation.”

"Get into real world" - vicious council cuts will hit more vital services

UNISON, the UK’s largest union, is warning that the Government’s 1.7% cut to local authority spending power will have a devastating impact on council services and workers. The details announced by Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles of how much each council will be allocated out of government central funding, simply means more cuts, more redundancies and fewer local services for those who need them most.


Heather Wakefield, UNISON’s Head of Local Government, said:

“Local councils are already under the Government’s financial cosh and today’s cuts will push many more vital services over the edge. By 2013/14 the Spending Review will have cut grants to Councils by £4.3bn while handing companies £3.75bn in cuts to Corporation Tax, where is the fairness in that?

“Eric Pickles needs to get into the real world. Around the country Libraries, Day Centres, and Youth Clubs are closing, care is being rationed as eligibility criteria become ever tighter, and young people find careers advice has all but disappeared.

“The evidence of the damage on vital local services is now all around us and plain to see. The wrong choices are being made and the gap between Ministerial rhetoric and the reality of what is happening to public services simply gets wider. Ministers are out of touch with the lives of ordinary people and the day to day experience of those who rely on and deliver our public services.

“Using council reserves to pay for everyday services is bad financial management because once they are gone, that it is it – councils will have no financial safety net in case of emergency.”

The Spending Review in 2010 meant that for every £100 councils received in formula grant in 2010/11 they would get just £73.60 in 2013/14 and further cuts have been announced since then -that is before inflation is taken into account.

Notes for Editors

The Leader of the Local Government Association Sir Merrick Cockell says the cuts ‘are unsustainable’. The Leader of Kent County Council says ‘the tank is running on empty’ and Finance Directors call the cuts ‘appalling’

Government adds to fear in workplace

The announcement today that the Government is cutting the opportunity for consultation on large scale redundancies from 90 to 45 days, “Is a cruel blow for workers and their families” said Bronwyn McKenna, UNISON Assistant General Secretary. She went on to say:

“Cutting the opportunity for employers and unions to realistically explore alternatives and ways to avoid large scale redundancies is a retrograde step. It will mean the loss of more skilled and experienced workers to the dole. The recession has led to fear in the workplace and the Government is adding to those fears by cutting short the opportunity for meaningful talks to take place.

“Any worker facing redundancy needs time to plan, to mitigate the impact on them and their family finances. Making arrangements to cover mortgages or rent, sort out bills, re-train and apply for new jobs all takes time and this cut will leave families facing financial hardship.



“This process can also be used to cut pay and conditions through disreputable dismissal and re-engagement strategies. Halving the period for consultation gives greater license to rogue employers to attack wages.”

06/12/2012

A & E waiting times - UNISON response

UNISON, the UK’s largest union, today warned that a rise in A & E waiting times will not only worsen, but will spread across the health service as the effect of Tory cuts and mismanagement of the NHS hits hard.

A major survey of more than 46,000 patients by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found that a third spend more than 4 hours in A & E. In 2004 the figure was 23%. Waiting times to see a nurse or a doctor have also risen.

Only yesterday, the Chancellor was on his feet in the House of Commons claiming that the government was reducing expenditure on public services at the same time as delivering improvements. He cited waiting times in the NHS as an example of such improvements. This survey shows his claims need to be taken with a huge bucket of salt.

All ambulance trusts have to make around £500 million worth of cuts over the next five years. The NHS as a whole has to deliver £20 billion worth of efficiency savings in the lifetime of this parliament.

Christina McAnea, UNISON head of health, said:

“This survey shows that Tory claims that they are protecting our health service are worthless. Ask any nurse, healthcare assistant or midwife, they know what is standing in the way of delivering the best possible care to patients; Tory cuts.

“All across the country nurses and health workers are losing their jobs, wards are closing and now we know that A & E waiting times are rising – this is deeply worrying. It means that patients are suffering. Meanwhile, billions are being wasted on a chaotic and deeply unpopular top down re-organisation of our health service. This money should be spent on caring for patients.

“The government needs to start listening to the real health experts – health workers – and take action to protect the NHS before it is too late. This rise in A & E waiting times is just the tip of the iceberg.”

06/12/2012

Mutuals and co-ops report - UNISON response

UNISON, the UK’s largest union, today welcomed a House of Commons report* into mutuals and co-operatives which highlights a dangerous lack of evidence for the government’s drive to promote the use of them in the public sector.

The report identifies that there are still very few examples of mutuals and co-ops in the public sector, particularly in local government. This exposes the government’s many claims about the benefits of mutuals and co-ops as worryingly unproven.

UNISON has long been warning that there are dangers lurking in the plans, and sounding alarm bells about the lack of evidence for the benefits that it would bring for local people and essential services.

Greater employee and service user involvement is the way to provide services which meet the needs of communities, but that this can be done co-operatively in-house, without the need to set up a new entity, fragment services and put staff terms and conditions at risk, said the union.

Heather Wakefield, UNISON head of local government, said:

“The government has been pushing the mutual and co-ops agenda hard as a new way of delivering local services. The dangerous lack of evidence for the benefits is deeply worrying. Their claims about the benefits are little more than warm words.

“At a time of slashed budgets, local authorities are desperately searching for ways to continue to deliver quality services. But we believe the principles of co-operation can happen within existing services - setting up complex and untested new structures in the current climate is a playing a dangerous game with vital services which people rely on and our members’ jobs.

“The report makes a number of recommendations to Government and calls on them to ‘take action to provide support’ if it wants more mutuals and co-ops to develop. Without this, the report is clear that this will not happen.

“In this sense, the report is a test – if the Government believes in genuine co-ops and mutuals as a means of improving public services, it will act. If not, the rhetoric which has surrounded this agenda will be consigned to history, along with other failed policy fads such as the Big Society