Salford cuts threaten charities’ services

MANCHESTER COMMUNAL charities fear the impact on services of the swingeing budget cuts proposed by Salford City Council, saying they are “being hit from all angles”.

Salford — which has had its government funding reduced by £118 million since 2011 — has announced plans to slash £56 million from its budget over the next two years, includiing a £32.5 million reduction for 2015.

The major Manchester Jewish welfare charity, The Fed, and Interlink, dealing with the strictly Orthodox community, both fear the cuts will impact heavily on council funding for their services, although they won’t know for certain until the full council discusses the budget proposals on February 25.

“We cannot afford to trim costs any further if we are to preserve the high standard of service we offer,” the Fed’s chief operating officer, Mark Cunningham, warned.

“What does that mean for families? They will be forced to go to inferior providers outside the Jewish community who do not have the same level of cultural and religious expertise, don’t pay their staff a living wage and are not able to provide the level of staff supervision and training necessary to maintain a quality service.”

As for caring for the elderly, “the shrinking public purse means that local authorities are tightening up further on the qualifying criteria for receiving publicly funded residential and nursing care. That will leave more and more ‘ at risk’ people struggling to live in the community. We’re being hit from all angles.”

Nava Kestenbaum, director of Interlink’s north-west branch, said council funding had been crucial to maintaining key operations. Her concern was that cuts would lessen the support it could provide in areas such as household financial advice and training opportunities.

“If they make large cuts, it’ll be much much harder to attract additional funding, and that could potentially destabilise what we can offer the community.”

However, Salford has assured the Hershel Weiss Children’s Centre that its funding will not be reduced. The council had pledged to protect its most vulnerable citizens where possible.

Defending the proposals, Salford Mayor Ian Stewart said that by 2016, the council will have lost 43 per cent of its government funding, making cutbacks inevitable.

“We simply cannot avoid major impact on local residents and council services — services we would otherwise wish to protect — with almost half our funding gone.

“I hope people understand the magnitude of the challenge the council faces — and that if we don’t make the savings, the government will step in and make them for us.”

The council’s final draft proposals are open for public comment until January 30.

‘We cannot trim costs if we are to preserve our high standards’