Cuts have had no effect on public, say 9 in 10 councils

DEEP cuts to town hall spending have made no difference to the public, a report on local government reveals.

It said nine out of ten councils reported that their ‘services were maintained’ last year.

The findings published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies tell a different story from that regularly put out by politicians, who say reduced council spending will have widespread damaging effects.

In one case, Tory local government chieftain Lord Porter said earlier this year that town halls were nearly £6billion short of the money they need. He added: ‘If councils stopped filling in potholes, maintaining parks and open spaces, closed all children’s centres, libraries, museums, leisure centres, turned off every street light and shut all discretionary bus routes they would not have saved enough money to plug this gap by the end of the decade.’

But according to the IFS report, the response of the wider public is more likely to be ‘cuts, what cuts?’

On the basis of a survey that consulted 126 councils, it said: ‘Despite years of cuts, 89 per cent of respondents say that service quality was maintained in their area last year.’

Councils have seen heavy cuts in their level of support from the Treasury since 2010, alongside an effective freeze on council tax increases that lasted until after the 2015 election. The curbs followed major council tax increases in the 2000s, peaking with a 13 per cent rise in 2003, and widespread dismay at a perceived pay spiral among senior council managers.

Town halls were widely accused of hiring thousands of people into wellpaid non-jobs involving tasks like easing climate change or encouraging drivers to walk more.

The IFS report said that while the great majority of councils said that cuts are having no effect now, most said that there would be an effect in the future, from 2019 onwards.

Those who were most worried were large authorities running adult social care departments with responsibility for fast-growing numbers of vulnerable elderly people. The report said these concerns were recorded before the Government pumped an extra £1billion into adult social care spending in the spring.

The IFS report used surveys carried out by accountancy firm PwC of 84 councils and the Local Government Information Unit think tank of 126 authorities. The studies were based on the views of senior elected members and appointed officials.