Operational Research:
The following report is the result of over 10 years of Undercover Research, working within various departments of Wiltshire Council Services and from confidential information provided me by current and past employees of Wiltshire Council.
This insight has been supplemented by the confidential reports of the experiences of Service Users that I have encounter in my Community Support work, Counselling and Community Advocacy role (Dozens of contributions and 12 cases that I won for clients in court).
The History of Service Reductions:
Before the Pandemic Crisis Local Government was already failing because of Central Government Cutbacks, due to Economic Policy failures. Restrictions were also placed upon what income could be generated through council taxes, etc. They will not admit to the part they played in the reduction of Levels and quality of services. That's Politics.
Our Unitary Authority Council of Wiltshire boasted that it would reduce the cost of Local Government by centralising Services and would thereby improve services they provided. They failed. Staffing and services were seriously cut. They will not admit this, even though it is obvious to us all.
By Law, Service Departments are required to report 'Service Shortfalls' to Line Managers and progressively up to Executive Managers. From there these are required to be reported to Central Government, by way of the Secretary of State. If this has been done, we were not told.
As our Elected Representatives, our County Councillors, are expected to inform us of any Service Shortfalls and explain why these have arisen. I do not know about you readers, but I have seen no clear statement about the level of cuts or their effects. The call these 'Restructures' and 'Rationalisation’.
We have many people and groups in our local communities who are willing to fill in the gaps, but they are rarely told in advance what and where those gaps will be. When they are discovered the gaps, our local councils often do not have enough funds to fully support the Community Groups.
Meanwhile the remaining council staff (typically a 1/3 to a1/2 of the original levels) in the remaining legally required Essential Services are not allowed to speak of these cuts, for fear of Disciplinary action, including sackings. We learn from them in confidential exposures.
As if that was not bad enough, those same Council Services often impose almost impossible restrictions on how Community Groups can use existing Council Facilities and impose complex processes to meet their 'Risk Avers' requirements they then impose upon them.
In order to obtain the necessary funds and generate necessary incomes to provide missing essential community services, Community Groups are required to register as a Charity if their funding needs exceed £5000. That level of funding need is not difficult to reach, when you have to pay to use Council facilities or use private facilities.
This then generates further administrative demands that draw upon the energies of those Volunteers providing the services which are trying to fill in the gaps (created by Local Councils failures). If there is the least failing in meeting these challenging requirements there is often serious penalties that Councils, Funders, and the Charity Commission impose.
All in all, it would seem that Local Councils are failing to meet the needs of local people and failing now to provide essential services needed for a thriving community. They also appear to be concerned to show that the community is not capable of doing this safely, or simply that the community did not require some of them in the first place.
This is the situation in Wiltshire, which is happy to spend money on its Central Headquarters, employ high paid executive staff, pay generous allowances to it's County Councillors and even invest in publicity to give the impression of what a great job it is doing with Culture and Tourism.
To listen to the Local Council you would think they have everything covered by 'tokenism' and Websites the boast of all they are doing, but make the process of asking for funding, raising a question, making proposals, or making a complaint almost impossible.
To make things even worse, local people (especially those most in need, with already inadequate incomes) are finding it increasingly difficult to pay for increasing 'Privatised' Services and those Voluntary Services that are increasingly forced to charge for some of their services and community activities.
Basically, Central Government conspires with Local Councils (especially of the same political persuasion) to suppress the real reasons why your local services and community facilities are failing or disappearing and why they are unable and unwilling to properly support the Community groups that are seeking to fill the gaps.
The focus of Local Councils has become more concerned with generating income and reducing risk of litigation, and less on providing Services themselves, or supporting those voluntary groups willing to do so.
The resulting impact on Local Charities and Community Group activities is similar, forcing them to focus on income generation and avoiding risks, often having to resorting to employing administrative staff on substantial salaries, pushing up the running costs and diverting time and energy from their primary purpose.
Please Sign the Petition and Share with friends and family.
Terry Couchman - Tel/Text: 07910173336