Unison fears huge council cuts as crisis bites
UNISON leaders in Carmarthenshire say the public will be the hardest hit from any proposed cuts by the county council made in the face of the economic crisis.
Last week Carmarthenshire Council admitted it may need to cut some services as the rising cost of inflation, food and energy prices means the authority is facing a significant shortfall in its budget for the next financial year.
As a best-case scenario, the council must find savings of £6.2m, which is more than 50% higher than previously expected, but this figure could even reach £22m for 2023-24.
The council’s cabinet has agreed to draw up proposals that could achieve these significant savings.
Councillors and officers will now work together to develop proposals but, after a decade of reducing its expenditure and unless significant funding is provided by the UK and Welsh governments, the council must now propose cutting some of its services.
However, Mark Evans, secretary of the Carmarthenshire branch of the public service union Unison, argues “there is nothing left to cut” and fears “some services will disappear altogether if there are further cuts”.
He added: “It is true that the council faces a particularly challenging situation, but it is the public and the employees of the council that will face the greatest challenge.
“Our Unison branch has consistently opposed the council making cuts whoever is in control of the council because employees, working-class people and the communities we live in lose out.
“It is the public that have lost out through services being cut to the bone. Now there is nothing left to cut, and some services will disappear altogether if there are further cuts.
“As we have stated previously, this will impact on people’s quality of life and their well-being.”
Mr Evans said the Plaid Cymru-led administration of Carmarthenshire Council should be fighting against having to make cuts and said: “No one knows what the budget settlement (from the UK Government ) will be for councils at present.
“We cannot rely on Tory MPS to stop cuts, we have to ask what our elected representatives are proposing to do to oppose these cuts.
“What is the Welsh Labour Government doing to fight for properly funded public services in Wales? What is the Plaid-led Carmarthenshire Council doing to fight the cuts? If previous experience is anything to go by, precious little.
“It is not good enough to say how bad things are going to be, our members and the public want to know what actions they are going to take.
“Our branch has consistently called on the council to implement a ‘no cuts budget’.
“This means consulting with the public and the trade unions about what services are needed and using borrowing powers and reserves to set a balanced budget to pay for these and prevent any cuts.
“Then use the time to build a mass campaign of opposition with other councils, the trade unions and our communities to stop the cuts.”
In response, Plaid Cymru’s cabinet member for resources on Carmarthenshire Council, Cllr Alun Lenny, said: “It’s gratifying that Unison recognises the very challenging time we face, not just as a council, but by our employees and the public in general.
“As an authority we’ve had a number of progressive and useful discussions with the trade unions over the past weeks surrounding the authority’s budget outlook for 2023-24.
“I must commend the decision by Unison members nationally for accepting, by ballot, an across-the-board pay offer of just under £2,000.
“This equates to a 10% pay increase for those on the lowest grades.
“All councils across Wales face making unprecedented budget savings.
“While we seek to devise even more efficient ways of delivering services, it seems inevitable that some unpalatable cuts will have to be made to set a legal budget. We are all in the same boat, all facing the same storm – a storm not of our making.
“The energy crisis is largely due to the conflict in Ukraine, and rampant inflation is also out of our control.
“However, Unison are quite right in calling for councils and Welsh Government to oppose the spending cuts, which we are already doing by lobbying the UK Government via the WLGA (Welsh Local Government Association).
“But, to be honest, lobbying a government in such chaos has so far proved utterly impossible and ultimately the county council has a duty to produce a balanced budget that is sustainable.
“Despite this, as a cabinet we’re determined to work with the unions and other partners to try and protect frontline services and minimise the impact of the economic turmoil and any budget cuts by this Tory UK Government.”