Households paying for basic public services

MINISTERS need to be honest and admit they have shifted the burden of basic public services on to individuals and volunteers, a report has found.

The Institute for Government said that households were increasingly having to pay for public services ranging from their care in old age to garden waste collections.

Other public services such as libraries are increasingly reliant on volunteers after slashing the number of full-time staff, while legal aid is also now means-tested. It comes after Theresa May used her speech at the Conservative Party conference to hail the “end of austerity” after years of cuts to the public sector.

Emily Andrews, associate director at the Institute for Government, said: “Public services are more efficient than they were eight years ago, but those savings haven’t been enough to bridge the widening gap between spending and demand for many services.

“One way the Government has tried to save money and avoid the need for tax increases is by asking the public to contribute more in other ways – from volunteers running libraries to people paying a greater share of the cost of defending themselves in court.

“We need to have an honest conversation about what public services are going to look like.

“I don’t think vague pronouncements about the end of austerity are conducive to that.”

The paper says that adult social care is one of the areas of “greatest” concern. Spending on social care has fallen by 3 per cent since 2009, with councils facing a funding gap of up to £4 billion by next year. The number of “unpaid” carers, such as families looking after elderly relatives, has grown significantly since 2009. “The significant increase in unpaid care suggests that adults are relying on informal care instead of local authority services as demand rises,” the report states.

With councils reducing the amount they are willing to pay towards people’s care, retirement homes are increasingly focusing on those who can pay for themselves. Care homes are faced with a choice of taking only private customers, charging those who can pay more, or closing down.

“To date, local authorities have reduced care home and home care fees but there are limits on how far this can be pushed,” the report states.

“Further reductions in care home and home care fees are unlikely to deliver sustainable efficiencies.”

Council services are also increasingly being paid for privately. The number of councils providing weekly bin collections has fallen by 40 per cent since 2010, while weekly recycling collections have also declined.

The number of councils charging for the disposal of garden waste has more than doubled to 199 over the same period, with households typically paying £50 a year.