Reform Took Over Lancs County Council.....

Yes, Stephen Atkinson, the new Reform UK leader of Lancashire County Council says his party’s rise to power at the authority marks “a new dawn”.

"Meanwhile, in his speech in the chamber, he acknowledged what he said were the “many challenges” his group had inherited – namely, “adult social care, SEND [special educational needs and disabilities] provision, balancing the budget…and crumbling roads”.

Is there gong to be an attack on SEND too "balance the budget?"
Time will tell, because his other target, adult social care, is an ever increasing factor.

Currently, in my street alone I have one rental property lived in by an autistic man that has 2 carers with him 24/7 and another neighbour who sadly is on end of like care and has at least four people coming each day for an hour or so to look after him. Do Reform actually understand just how much social care costs and how many people need it?

Send budgets in every council I know are being cut back.

That County Council is quite in debt as well.

I think that reform may live to regret what they wished for.
I have many complaints about how the country is run but absolutely know that the reality of running the country is a huge and daunting task.
It’s hard enough running a household.

Galaxy

Send budgets in every council I know are being cut back.

I think its about how its being done as well as the principle.

Who gets targeted.

Locally:

The Council is proposing to replace SEN transport (minibuses or taxis) with personal transport budgets for most (not all - depends on vulnerability ) post-16 students, not younger children.

It could mean parents receiving money to cover transport costs, instead of the council arranging transport.

It's going to be a difficult one, perhaps what matters is how it's done - assessments, what ages they are.

Maybe most women would run a mile before getting involved with Reform, hence the ‘manosphere’ in Lancs.

According to the council, mindful of the DEA stuff, they assured the public the appointment were all made "on merit".

This is all very well, but surely many women do have specific experiences which have great particular worth - and it's a glaring omission.

Its taken so many years to get to the point where women do get represented in politics.

Kent county council was won by reform , the leader is a woman and apparently all councillors will have a 5% deduction in their pay in order to fund social needs.
A good start, not that I voted for them.

silverlining48

Kent county council was won by reform , the leader is a woman and apparently all councillors will have a 5% deduction in their pay in order to fund social needs.
A good start, not that I voted for them.

Really? What a good idea. Maybe the Government could take that up too.

Thats a good move. Not sure how her appointing a DOGE person will work however, some mixed stuff here:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj099p8j95eo

I’d somehow missed the Reform take over of Lancs County Council. It covers a huge and diverse area. Good luck to them with their Doge desires and total absence of experience

My family live in Durham Co council which was one of the "take overs" so on the lookout.

They're doing a "cookie cut" of Reform policies.

"The previous "neighbourhood and climate change" position is now "neighbourhoods and environment", while "equality and inclusion" has been changed to "stronger communities and belonging" - but nothing on what that means.

It's been pointed out that the party will "hit a brick wall" when attempting to set a zero per cent council tax increase next year and repair potholes within 24 hours of being reported.

So - impressive on potholes, see what happens to social care and SEND.

I don't think any of those slogans particularly mean anything ( I once really upset a vicar by saying that mission statements for organisation were a complete waste of everyones time) but I prefer community and belonging to inclusion and equality. Both those words make me a bit anxious, despite the fact that for a long time I did a job with inclusion in its title. However all of that is just window dressing.

I’m in the Durham County Council area. I saw the renaming of some posts/roles as window dressing.

But when I see that Darren Grimes, the youngster who ran a Leave campaign aided by illegal funding, for which he should have been fined, but was ‘let off’ by the judge on the grounds that he was too dim to fill in the return form properly, is now county councillor responsible for finance I don’t have the utmost confidence in the future management of DCC funds…

Yes I saw some window dressing there too, it depends what they do under the new cover titles, for example sack a diversity officer who helps a lot of people with disabilities get and keep jobs or it remains window dressing.

but the Darren Grimes example is a pretty grim reflection of an inadequate post.

MaizieD

I’m in the Durham County Council area. I saw the renaming of some posts/roles as window dressing.

But when I see that Darren Grimes, the youngster who ran a Leave campaign aided by illegal funding, for which he should have been fined, but was ‘let off’ by the judge on the grounds that he was too dim to fill in the return form properly, is now county councillor responsible for finance I don’t have the utmost confidence in the future management of DCC funds…

I can’t quite believe what I’m reading here .

I fear that some of our new councillors in Kent would not represent the cream of any crop, and most bring zero experience of running any large organisation to their post. It will be a very steep learning curve : Kent finances are on a knife edge, and after many years on Conservative cost cutting, I wonder what their much- vaulted DOGE campaign will find to save money.
And wasn't Mr Grimes the chap who proclaimed loudly and publicly that he wouldn't be attending DEI training - except there wasn't any...

Well, this could be interesting. From the Local Govt. Association website

^Councils run ‘induction’ training for all new councillors. This will help you to become familiar with the council, its departments, and the expectations and roles of councillors. There is mandatory training for example on finance, safeguarding, equality and diversity, and the code of conduct. Councillors are also set up with IT equipment and support.  Councils offer continual development opportunities throughout the time as a councillor to help with knowledge of council services and to develop personal skills and confidence. ^ 

I have read something this morning (but can’t find it again) that said that some of this training is required by law and that councillors can be taken to court if they don’t undertake it…

oh. formatting failure. apologies.

MayBee70

Currently, in my street alone I have one rental property lived in by an autistic man that has 2 carers with him 24/7 and another neighbour who sadly is on end of like care and has at least four people coming each day for an hour or so to look after him. Do Reform actually understand just how much social care costs and how many people need it?

No they don’t!

I think the biggest issue with Reform councillors will be exactly the same as their MPs, lack of experience, lack of real understanding of their roles, lack of budgetary experience and no understanding of statutory services.

Stephen Atkinson, who was leader of Ribble Valley Council before defecting from the Conservatives will at least have some experience, but he will be one of the few.

silverlining48

Kent county council was won by reform , the leader is a woman and apparently all councillors will have a 5% deduction in their pay in order to fund social needs.
A good start, not that I voted for them.

But, big but, this will amount to very small amounts, as far as I know, councillors receive “allowances” not salaries, they are not council employees.

I understand their allowances start somewhere between £12,000-£16,000 and then are topped up for any additional duties, portfolios etc.

Hardly going to make any difference to overall budgets, but of course, it sounds good to the public.