The situation facing the councils is dire because of under-funding and ever increasing demands of security, housing, fighting crime, homelessness and inflation. Hence, Councils are appealing for cash injection to avoid ‘catastrophic collapse’ because of the heavy cuts they have faced for the last 8 years.
Some councils are facing bankruptcy. English councils face a funding gap of $5.8bn according to the Local Government Association which is causing serious problems for them to provide services to their residents. It looks like the appeals by the councils are falling on deaf ears, as a result of this imposed austerity. Immediate injection of funds is the need of the hour to avoid collapse of key council services.
The most deprived areas have been severely affected with cuts of almost three times the national average. This is an unacceptable burden which has fallen on the shoulders of the councils and required to remedied promptly to save them from collapse. This matter at an absolute minimum need to cancel the funding settlement for further cut of £1.3bn to next year ‘s Revenue Support Grant. It would be highly irresponsible, if further cuts are made in view of perilous financial deficits the councils are currently facing.
The announcement by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government representative, that they will be confirming local government funding for the financial year 2019/20 soon, will hopefully address the underfunding issues of the long suffering councils.
Baldev Sharma
Rayners Lane, Harrow.
