Councils Lose £6.5Bn In Largest Cuts Since 1945 With Tens Of Thousands Of Jobs Axed

[TheCountOfNowhere]

I don't remember seeing the headline 5 years ago....

"Governments given most money since 1945 and employing useless tens of thousands of people in non-jobs...any you're paying for it"

ying and yang.

Edited December 14, 2010 by TheCountOfNowhere

[interestrateripoff]

Paying off bills, I thought we were merely getting the deficit down and not paying off the debt.

[council dweller]

Didn't I read somewhere that 30% of our council taxes go to pay pensions? Surely we're moving towards 50% all too quickly!?

[richc]

The head of my local council is paid 20% more than the mayor of New York City, while overseeing services for a population 2% of the size of New York.

And they don't know where savings can be made without cutting frontline services?

[Dorkins]

Paying off bills, I thought we were merely getting the deficit down and not paying off the debt.

Unless tax revenues suddenly start climbing, we're not even going to get the deficit down. The plan is for the overall budget to increase in cash terms, per my signature. For the deficit to fall, the tax take is going to have to skyrocket.

If you dig a little deeper into the 'cuts', all the government are doing is cutting smaller and less politically sensitive departments to fund real terms increases in spending on education and health. As if those two sectors weren't already bloated.

[kingsgate]

Why don't they just stop the handouts to wasters?

Simples.....

[Flat Bear]

These cuts have turned out to be scratches.

To get from deficit to surplus and start paying off the massive debt will mean deep cuts. Yep cutting to the point of getting rid of certain services altogether. If you are a Lesbian anarcist disabled transvestite you may no longer have your own liason officer in your area to coordinate with.

We need to change to a repayment mortgage or even an interest only would be OK, if temporary, and I know we havn't got a repayment vehicle at end of term.

The current mortgage of paying everything we have and then increasing the mortgage by a tenth of our salary each year may not be the best of ideas? Wonder why the bank hasn't forclosed on us yet?

[tim123]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1338266/Tens-thousands-jobs--Pickles-promises-council-services-bloodbath.html

'Tens of thousands of job losses are on the cards at town halls after the Government unveiled what were described as the most savage budget cuts since the end of the Second World War.

Councils will lose up to 17 per cent of their funding from central government grants – which it was claimed could result in more than 70,000 losing their jobs.

A funding shortfall of £6.5billion over the coming year could lead to restrictions on meals on wheels for the elderly, less frequent bin collections and reductions in street lighting.

And there are fears that parking charges and business rates could soar in future years as councils try to balance the books.

As councils have zero contol over the level of Business Rates (and don't keep the money that they do collect) I don't see how that can possibly happen

[The Masked Tulip]

Heard a story this afternoon about Swansea Council workers in a right strop allegedly over a change in their terms and conditions.

I wondered what this meant - huge job cuts? Huge salary cuts? Huge pension cuts?

No, annual leave down from 5 weeks to 4 weeks and people like Social Workers no longer getting any overtime unless it is between 11PM and 3AM with their 5 day working week no longer being Mon to Fri but can be any 5 days between Mon and Sat.

I thought - is this it???

Edited December 14, 2010 by The Masked Tulip

[Timak]

As councils have zero contol over the level of Business Rates (and don't keep the money that they do collect) I don't see how that can possibly happen

Don't let actual facts get in the way of the council bashing.

I heard they give a gold plated rolls royce to every admin assistant every monday morning.

[The Masked Tulip]

Don't let actual facts get in the way of the council bashing.

I heard they give a gold plated rolls royce to every admin assistant every monday morning.

Well, that does explain the gold price.

[Meat Puppet]

As councils have zero contol over the level of Business Rates (and don't keep the money that they do collect) I don't see how that can possibly happen

There is a proposal to change this with some caveats such as not letting Westminster keep all of the rates collected there.

[buzzardo]

Where's AbsoluteTurdo when you need him/her/it, to help us understand just WHY all these non-jobs are so important?

I just can't make my own mind up, without some insight from the great Exterminator to guide me