SOLACE/CIPFA study predicts transformation of local government‏

The FT reports on a joint study by Solace, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives, and Cipfa, the Chartered Institute for Public Finance and Accounting..... What lies ahead.......

● Budgets for personal care, such as bathing and feeding, that do not cover the full cost so that individuals, families or the voluntary sector have to top them up for the elderly or disabled.

● Businesses having to pay to maintain existing levels of policing in town centres or industrial estates.

● Concessionary fares and free bus passes abolished or restricted.

● Hard decisions on when to grit city roads fully and whether street lighting should be turned off at midnight or 2am in residential areas.

● Big reductions in leisure facilities, from closing swimming pools and libraries, ending free swimming for children and the elderly, cutting support for the arts.

● Wider use of charges for anything other than a core service, for example, removing garden waste or Christmas trees. Greater use of congestion and road charging.

● Greater use of voluntary groups to deliver services.

● Tougher eligibility for adult and elderly social care.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ca89b198-e447-11de-bed0-00144feab49a.html?ftcamp=rss