The chair of the Local Government Association has called on the government to reduce civil service bureaucracy and divert any savings made to front-line services.
Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart made his remarks as an LGA survey showed English councils were struggling to keep council tax increases down without cutting services.
He pointed out that many councils with social services responsibilities had received grant increases of 2 per cent or less, and said the government’s settlement had included no funding for demographic changes such as more vulnerable elderly people.
Bruce-Lockhart said: “There is £2.5bn spent on civil servants issuing directives and guidance, prescribing performance indicators, overseeing bid funding schemes and regulating and inspecting councils.” He added that by cutting down on bureaucracy, the money saved could then be “ploughed back into front-line services.”
The LGA’s survey of 112 local authorities’ council tax found the average increase in England would be around 4 per cent.
‘Spend red-tape money on front line’
More from Community Care
Related articles:
Featured jobs
Workforce Insights
- Working with perpetrators of domestic abuse: training social workers to have challenging conversations
- Extending support: the importance of reflective supervision beyond the ASYE
- ‘It’s hopeful work’: social work in an adults’ mental health team
- Podcast: supporting adults with learning disabilities and autism post-pandemic
- ‘There aren’t many roles where you get to take a child on holiday’: the benefits of residential care work
- Workforce Insights – showcasing a selection of the sector’s top recruiters
Community Care Inform
Latest stories
Finley Boden: professionals should have protected baby murdered by his parents, review finds
Regulator calls for consistency of support for NQSWs as DfE develops children’s early career framework
Leadership training programme launched for PSWs, AMHP leads and principal OTs in adults’ services
Kent ‘extremely close to capacity’ to care for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children
Comments are closed.