The shape of cuts by Britain’s local authorities has emerged after the FT waded through more than 2,400 “savings plans” from the 2011/12 budgets of 20 councils from various regions and political hues.
My colleagues have extrapolated their findings to reveal which services are taking the deepest cuts: According to their research, adult social care is being hit the worst at 9.7 per cent for the coming year – equivalent to £1.4bn in England.
This is followed by roads (6.9 per cent), public transport (6.5 per cent), 6.3 per cent (children’s services), waste and recycling (5.5 per cent) and children’s social care (5.2 per cent) according to this breakdown.
Interestingly, this is at odds with what councils themselves are saying in public. Some 57 per cent said that they would cut adult social care less than other services, according to this survey last week by the Local Government Association. That claim has now been undermined.
By the way, if you hadn’t yet heard Greg Barker’s comments in the US – that the coalition is “making cuts that Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s could only have dreamt of” – you have now. I’m waiting for a spinner to get in touch to put the sentence in its proper context.
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey
