Crisis funds under threat

From April 2015, a £180m a year hardship fund will be abolished. Councils have simply not made a strong enough argument for it it would seem. This is a disgrace and deserves far greater attention as councils struggle to provide for their local residents. "Iain Duncan Smith's axe has struck again. This time its local authority welfare assistance schemes on the block. But we're not talking reform or even cuts. The scheme had already been significantly cut last year. From April 2015 a £180m a year hardship fund will be abolished completely. That's right. Scrapped. A vital safety net will no longer be there. Crisis loans are not really well known as they are applied for when people are really desperate and have few options left it is often recommended to them as the shame in applying for it is huge with a social stigma attached to it too sadly. But this fund is vital and will have dire consequences I fear. "Yet for all the welfare campaigns and demonstrations highlighting changes to the benefit system this has largely slipped under the radar. Crisis funds have not had the attention they deserve. From freedom of information requests to councils across the country, from a sample of 98 local authorities that the average spend in the first six months was around 20% – but in many cases the fund was just not working. The worst authority was Hertfordshire county council, which had spent less than 1% of the £1,765,277 they received for the scheme. In the first six months they had spent just £11,990. The fact that the council had been awarded £373,000 to administer this fund showed the bureaucrats were doing very well at the expense of people who really need help. Other councils were just as bad. Herefordshire had spent just 1% of their funding and their council leader, Tony Johnson, a former banker, went on national radio to say he was pleased with the results. Cumbria had also spent just 1% of their funding, Hillingdon had only spent 2%, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne had only spent 3% and Manchester 6%. In all of these places poverty exists. Even in leafy Hertfordshire there are food banks and 32,000 children in child poverty. Some council have a complete ignorance of poverty. There are examples where small grants to help a family feed their children were withheld until they'd been on a cooking course and one council offering a homeless man a voucher for a tent. The government has to accept a large part of the blame for this. Their version of localism seems to be directing funds towards councils and waiting for them to fail so they can justify scrapping schemes. There has to be better guidance. But I can't help thinking that had there been more evidence of municipal innovation in tackling poverty, with stronger partnerships with the voluntary sector, then the Local Government Association could have prevented this fund being abolished by making a strong argument to retain it. As it stands, both local and central government have failed the most vulnerable people in society. Poverty can never be tackled simply through central government schemes. There is a growing need for more innovative, local approaches. But where will the funding come from to develop these now?" With extracts from http://www.theguardian.com/local-government-network/2014/jan/07/council-crisis-funds-scrapped-poverty

No to turning street lights off at night, putting people in danger, say no to all cuts

Walking home from the pub after closing hours the other night I discovered that I was walking in the pitch dark. I thought a light had gone and reporting it would solve it but stupid I forgot that Hertfordshire like many other counties now is turning off its street lights after a certain time of night. Midnight in our case. Which for many people who go to bed early before midnight will never affect granted but for others who work at night, walking home from the town’s pubs and clubs or seeing a friend late at night will put them in danger. Not only the fact that it’s hard to see anyway with the roads and paths being maintained less now too due to cuts the likelihood of tripping up is increased. Plus the fact that it puts women and old people in danger unnecessarily. I don’t imagine turning street lights off at night saves that much. In our street they have recently installed new efficient lights so surely these would be better anyway and more cost effective. This for me was another small thing I’ve noticed and how the cuts are starting to affect me personally. I am registered blind and do have some sight left which I do use of course. Having a bit of light does help me but now I have to use my cane a lot harder to make sure I don’t trip up. I fear for people who in bigger cities where crime rate is far higher walking home on their own late at night in the pitch dark. Who knows who may be lurking? I don’t wish to scare people but just make people aware of some of the ways cuts are affecting me and others. None of these cuts are needed if we had a government prepared to tax the rich and take the wealth off them and use it to fund public services properly we could eliminate the deficit and put people back to work and run public services properly. For this we need a new workers party willing to put the interests of working class people first. A government based on the ideas of socialism willing to change society in a transitional way moving away from capitalism and ending the greed and wealth of a minority instead allowing the majority to enjoy the worlds wealth and environment which they have never been able to. Cuts to street lighting may seem a small and insignificant thing but to me it matters, as do all cuts, As a socialist I oppose all cuts as we did not create this crisis, It was in the private sector, the banks and their wreck less gambling which we are now paying the price for. Well I say no and reject the need for any cuts. However difficult it is it may not be the popular thing to do, it may be easy for me to stay in the Labour Party say I’m against cuts yet vote for them in the council chamber ring my hands and say there is nothing I can do. When we all know there clearly is. You can roll over or fight. I prefer to fight back. We must to change society for the better.