Crisis in funding of social care

Maybe you could writ to your MP gillybob, to express your fury and ask why the government's austerity programme is causing so much hardship? Brexit dominates everything, inevitably as whichever 'side' we support, it's probably the biggest decision this country has taken in my life time. Meanwhile we have cuts to essential public services that impact on all of us on a daily basis.
I spent 5 hours in A and E this week, with one of my daughters and her poorly 6 week old baby. There was one young doctor on duty, with one nurse. The department was jammed with people and it was an unusually busy night so far a children are concerned. The care given to our baby was excellent, the nurse managed to make us a cup of tea about midnight. I don't mind paying taxes including council tax, if the money actually goes on services rather than paying for ferry companies who don't have any ferries. Now that, that is mismanagement of public money.

Thank you Iam but my argument is how dare they shove our CT up yet again, cut services to the bare bones and/or stop them altogether. The roads are a disgrace, there are more empty shops than full ones and all the while these greedy fat cats are lapping it up for doing sod all ! Anger doesn’t cover it .

gillybob, your anger about this kind of thing is acknowledged. However - we either want public services or we don't. We pay taxes and local taxes to fund our local services. My argument is with the government and exactly what they're doing with our taxes. I've lost count, glazed over at the level of our money wasted by Chris Grayling, for example.

In our council there are 12 people paid more than £120k with the 5 at the top commanding £145-£150k each. On top of that they take expenses and VERY generous pension contributions. Now why is my council tax going up by 3.6% again?

£47,000 for the Council Chief Exec! That’s a pittance.

Our Council Chief Exec earns £47,000 which I think is a fair salary for his job. Our MP earns £77,379 plus, as stated on his website, private consultancy of £6,000 a month. I do not agree with MPs having other jobs/consultancies, and I agree Iam that they shouldn't be allowed outside work. If they are not paid adequately then it will deter MPs from modest backgrounds aspiring to the job. If you tune in to Parliament during the day most of the MPs are ? about their day jobs.

No competition exists! CEO salaries reflect what their mates are earning, and what they therefore think they should get.

Unfortunately in the case of some charities high salaries meant that some of their salaries have been used in less than acceptable ways!

MPs are way out of touch with their constituents. While they foist Austerity onto us, they give themselves pay rises. They should be on the average pay plus audited expenses (no duck houses obviously!).

Jalima, I don’t believe MPs are paid enough. Pay them more but don’t allow them to have other work
Local authorities and charities compete with the private sector so ceo salaries reflect that

The executives within our council command alarmingly high salaries (and there are a lot of them)
I do wonder why so many officials in local government need to earn more than a prime minister or government ministers.

After all, they are only running local councils and not a whole country.

Lazygitl - the fittest and the wealthiest

Sadly grannypauline it is political dogma as Luckygirl said up thread. The survival of the fittest!

Undoubtedly some of the above accounts for the dire situation local councils are in.

BUT the main problem is government funding: between 2010 and 2020, councils will have lost 60p out of every £1 the Government previously gave them to provide for services.

Those tax cuts for the wealthy (and some unnecessary or wasted projects) have meant less for local council services.

I accept that there have been some very radical government cutbacks to funding given to LA's which has undoubtedly lead to huge cut backs in services and closures of much needed facilities....however.... my argument is that in my LA we have been inflicted with yet another 3.6% rise in council tax and for what reason? the pot holes are still there, facilities have already been closed and/or cut to the very bone, so where is that extra money going? Do LA's think that the ordinary working man or woman has a money tree that grows at the same or higher rate? The executives within our council command alarmingly high salaries (and there are a lot of them) could it possibly be that the rise in council tax is to pay for a rise in their wages and pensions?
Could it be that we are paying to safeguard the non jobs that our LA seem very fond of? Are we paying for the luxurious refit of our town hall, complete with state of the art bathrooms, top of the range new furniture, the most expensive coffee machines in every room? the new gym? the free pilates and yoga classes provided to council staff?

It stinks.

Some 25 years ago my FIL developed Dementia. MIL cared for him at home but there was a crisis when she broke her hip and was admitted to hospital. FIL was then assessed and admitted to a pshycriatic hospital/care facility, where he remained, happily until he died. MIL went home with help and support from us and a Home Help who did her shopping, prepared her meals and became her best friend. There was no charge for either of these NHS/LA services.

Fast forward to now. DH with Dementia and me as his Carer have been assessed as requiring 2 days per week of Day Care and 6 weeks per annum of respite care. 2 years on still waiting for the 2nd day of Day Care (provided by Alzheimers on behalf of the LA) to become available and only 2 weekends and 2 full weeks of respite because of lack of availability. Payment required for both day care and respite stays. (approx. £1000 per week with 20% discount for Free Personal Care). Both facilities can only accommodate 8 people at a time.

DH's appointed Social Worker has been off sick (stress) more than she has been at work this past year, but is hanging on in hopes of an enhanced redundancy package. This with a background of more people living longer but requiring longterm help with their care needs.

Well........*the moral test of a government is how it treats the children, the elderly, the sick, the needy and handicapped*. Hubert Humphrey (paraphr). Not scoring too highly on that one are we? Ofcourse the government cutting grants to local councils are shifting the blame for lack of services to the councils, some of which are going, or have gone bankrupt. Tory ones at that. I wonder if anyone saw 'Skint Britain' last night. It was a graphic description of what the government is reducing people to, and regardless of political persuasion I don't think anyone could fail to be moved by the chap in a telephone booth phoning DHSS and crying, because he had no money, whilst being kept on hold for lengthy periods whilst " The Four Season's" played on a loop.

And efficiency is now only measured in monetary terms - never mind the quality. Political dogma must be master.

The key problem is that the financial support for councils from central government has been slashed. there has been no reduction in expectations that councils will support statutory services. this means that charities that previously filled gaps in Council services no longer exist. I can think of one particularly good local service that offered safe spaces for non residence parents to see their children. These are vulnerable children where one parent (usually the mother) has been subjected to domestic abuse or the children are at risk of significant harm if they spend time with their non resident parent (usually their father) so the charity set up an excellent centre, run by volunteers. it's had to close because the three local councils that provided financial support haven't been able to do that. Of course their limited resources go on statutory services.

Our Tory County Council is utterly useless, but their budget has been axed by the Tory Government.

Fortunately our local District Council is Liberal Democrat, so far better run in spite of the cuts, and we do have weekly bin collections for recycling and fortnightly for non-recyclable (which is mainly certain types of plastic)

This will surely lead to an increase in fly tipping, which will cost the council to clear up. WHY can they not see that

None so blind..... JenniferEccles I am sick to death of saying the same thing over and over again, but it falls on deaf ears in our (labour controlled) LA !

Regarding the emptying (or not) of bins, I now see that some poor souls in Wales are having to wait 4 weeks for their bins to be emptied.

This will surely lead to an increase in fly tipping, which will cost the council to clear up. WHY can they not see that?

Some European countries (Spain or Italy?) have their rubbish collected DAILY, and they are relatively poor countries with struggling economies, unlike ours which is flourishing.

If they can do it, why can't we?

As gillybob says, despite the cuts in services, council taxes continue to rise. Where is it going?

^What about local councils, what are they spending their money on ? Besides their own wages of course ! Then there's all the other non-jobs.

Roads are still riddled in potholes, weeds growing in grass verges and pathways and bins not getting emptied.
someone's making a packet somewhere at the expense of us council-tax payers ! ^

I think you make a valid point EllanVannin . Our council tax is set to rise yet again and I cannot see any justification for this whatsoever except perhaps to pay for wage rises, increased pensions and non jobs for council workers etc. The pot holes are as bad ( if not worse) than ever and the council run community centres etc. have long gone all "services" have already been cut back to a bare minimum or else gone altogether. So where is the justification in yet another 3.6% rise?

I believe that public services should be run by the public service and not for profit as others have already said. There is no reason why this could not be more efficient than the private sector. Public running of NE railways let to profit. Why are we subsidising private companies with our taxes? I’d rather subsidise the tax payer.

When profit comes first - services usually suffer. By all means, they should be cost efficient - but that is vastly different to being profit driven. We all know why that is in todays society.

EllanVannin - I suspect your question isn't a genuine one it's aimed at irritating those of us who don't share your political and simplistic view of the world. I don't often post such an irritable response but honestly if you had any idea what is happening to front line services you wouldn't be making such outrageous comments.
End of rant.

What about local councils, what are they spending their money on ? Besides their own wages of course ! Then there's all the other non-jobs.

Roads are still riddled in potholes, weeds growing in grass verges and pathways and bins not getting emptied.
someone's making a packet somewhere at the expense of us council-tax payers !

What's happened to council-run care homes ?