Council services ‘could suffer due to social care costs’ if government creates ‘super councils’
Council services such as leisure centres and waste collection could suffer due to the cost of social care if the government goes ahead with plans to scrap district councils in favour of “super councils”, local government sources have claimed.
They told Sky News the government is considering getting rid of district councils, which are responsible for waste collection, housing, leisure centres, local economics and regeneration.
District councils, also called borough or city councils, along with larger county councils would be merged to make “super councils” – or unitary councils – covering an entire region, the sources said.
The changes are expected in the English devolution white paper, set to be published soon, after Chancellor Rachel Reeves said in her October budget she wanted to make council structures “simpler” by reorganising them.
However, there are concerns the rising cost of social care, which larger county and unitary councils have to legally fund, will pull funding away from the basic but essential services district councils provide.
There is also a worry these large councils will become detached from local communities, despite Ms Reeves saying she wanted the reorganisation of council structures “to meet the needs of local people”.
People swim at Banbury Lido at Woodgreen Leisure Centre in Oxfordshire. File pic: PA
Bridget Smith, Lib Dem leader of South Cambridgeshire district council and vice chair of the District Councils’ Network (DCN), told Sky News: “Unitary and county councils are struggling financially, and in many cases going under, because of the ever-increasing demands of social care.
“It will be no different for these proposed ‘super councils’.
“The danger is social care will suck up all the resources which districts currently spend on place making, economic development, preventing ill health, improving quality of life and so much more.”
She added that simply reorganising local government is “simplistic and naive” and will cause new problems for local communities, and for the government’s housing targets as district councils are responsible for housing.
There is also concern if councils were merged it would take about three years to convert, which would take up all a council’s time, potentially bringing projects to a halt, including house building.
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Sam Chapman-Allen, chair of the DCN and leader of Breckland district council in Norfolk, said there are examples across England where devolution – handing power and funding from national to local government – is working well, such as Manchester where 10 district councils work together under the mayor of Greater Manchester.
Smaller examples include South Lincolnshire, where three councils work together with a shared senior team.
“I wouldn’t say my members are nervous about change because they’re really nimble, agile organisations, but we want to work with government to get the best outcomes for their residents and businesses,” he told Sky News.
He said district councils also provide lots of preventative “non-traditional” social care schemes off their own backs, such as supporting people to live a healthy life, which means they take pressure off the traditional social care system.
Housing and blocks of flats in west London. Pic: PA
Conservative shadow housing, communities and local government secretary Kevin Hollinrake told Sky News: “Services have to come first so you want to make sure they’re maintained and improve social care, and of course it’s the biggest part of the discretionary budget. It’s a valid concern.
“On the face, there are savings moving from two tier to one tier, but you don’t want the council or councillors to become too removed from what they’re serving.
“The worry here is this is an imposition rather than asking councillors if they want to move to unitary – that’s top down rather than bottom up.
“It’s perverse, you’re talking about devolving then telling councils what to do. It’s a bit of a paradox.”
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Council tax hike linked to sell-offs
A spokesman for the ministry of housing, communities and local government said there are “no plans to abolish district councils” and any organisation will be “from the bottom up”.
He added: “No decisions have been taken on council reorganisation.
“Our priority is to focus on the transfer of power from Westminster and work with councils to create structures that make sense for their local areas and work effectively for local people.
“We have announced £1.3bn to help councils deliver essential services – including an additional £233m to help prevent homelessness, and will be providing greater stability with multi-year funding settlements, so we can get councils back on their feet.
“We will set out further details in the upcoming English devolution white paper.”
Homelessness minister Rushanara Ali has resigned after reportedly hiking the rent on a property she owns by hundreds of pounds – something described by one of her tenants as “extortion”.
That was just weeks after the previous tenants’ contract ended, The i Paper said.
Four tenants who rented a house in east London from Ms Ali were sent an email last November saying their lease would not be renewed, and which also gave them four months’ notice to leave, the newspaper reported.
The property was then re-listed with a £700 rent increase within weeks, the publication added.
In a letter to the prime minister, Ms Ali said that remaining in her role would be a “distraction from the ambitious work of this government”.
She added: “Further to recent reporting, I wanted to make it clear that at all times I have followed all relevant legal requirements.
“I believe I took my responsibilities and duties seriously, and the facts demonstrate this.”
Laura Jackson, one of Ms Ali’s former tenants, said she and three others collectively paid £3,300 in rent.
Weeks after she and her fellow tenants had left, the self-employed restaurant owner said she saw the house re-listed with a rent of around £4,000.
“It’s an absolute joke,” she said. “Trying to get that much money from renters is extortion.”
Sir Keir Starmer said Ms Ali’s work in government would leave a ‘lasting legacy’. Pic: PA
Ms Ali’s house, rented on a fixed-term contract, was put up for sale while the tenants were living there, and was only relisted as a rental because it had not sold, according to The i Paper.
The government’s Renters’ Rights Bill includes measures to ban landlords who end a tenancy to sell a property from re-listing it for six months.
The Bill, which is nearing its end stages of scrutiny in Parliament, will also abolish fixed-term tenancies and ensure landlords give four months’ notice if they want to sell their property.
Something Sir Keir’s increasingly unpopular government could have done without
Rushanara Ali’s swift and humiliating demise is a classic example of paying the price for the politician’s crime of “Do as I say, not as I do”.
She was Labour’s minister for homelessness, for goodness’ sake, yet she ejected tenants from her near-£1m town house then hiked the rent.
A more egregious case of ministerial double standards it would be difficult to imagine. She had to go and was no doubt told by 10 Downing Street to go quickly.
MP for the East End constituency of Bethnal Green and Stepney, Ms Ali was the very model of a modern Labour minister: a degree in PPE from Oxford University.
In her resignation letter to Sir Keir Starmer, she said she is quitting “with a heavy heart”. Really? She presumably didn’t have a heavy heart when she ejected her four tenants.
She’d previously spoken out against “private renters being exploited” and said the government would “empower people to challenge unreasonable rent increases”.
She was charging her four former tenants £3,300 a month. Yet after they moved out, she charged her new tenants £4,000, a rent increase of more than 20%.
In an area represented by the left-wing firebrand George Galloway from 2005 to 2010, Ms Ali had a majority of under 1,700 at the election last year.
Ominously for Labour, an independent candidate was second and the Greens third. No doubt Jeremy Corbyn’s new party will also stand next time.
In her resignation letter to the PM, Ms Ali said continuing in her ministerial role would be a distraction. Too right.
A distraction Sir Keir and his increasingly unpopular government could have done without.
Responding to her resignation, shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly said: “I said that her actions were total hypocrisy and that she should go if the accusations were shown to be true.”
A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: “Rushanara Ali fundamentally misunderstood her role. Her job was to tackle homelessness, not to increase it.”
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Previously, a spokesperson for Ms Ali said the tenants “stayed for the entirety of their fixed term contract, and were informed they could stay beyond the expiration of the fixed term, while the property remained on the market, but this was not taken up, and they decided to leave the property”.
The prime minister thanked Ms Ali for her “diligent work” and for helping to “deliver this government’s ambitious agenda”.
Sir Keir Starmer said her work in putting in measures to repeal the Vagrancy Act would have a “significant impact”.
And he said she had been trying to encourage “more people to engage and participate in our democracy”, something that would leave a “lasting legacy”.
Politics
Rushanara Ali: Humiliating demise for Labour minister after a most egregious case of double standards
Rushanara Ali’s swift and humiliating demise is a classic example of paying the price for the politician’s crime of “do as I say, not as I do”.
She was Labour’s minister for homelessness, for goodness’ sake, yet she ejected tenants from her near-£1m town house and then hiked the rent.
Politics Hub: Minister’s resignation as it happened
A more egregious case of ministerial double standards it would be difficult to imagine. She had to go and was no doubt told by 10 Downing Street to go quickly.
Rushanara Ali reportedly hiked the rent on a property she owns. Pic: PA
‘A heavy heart’ – really?
MP for the East End constituency of Bethnal Green and Stepney, Ms Ali was the very model of a modern Labour minister: A degree in PPE from Oxford University.
In her resignation letter to Sir Keir Starmer, she said she is quitting “with a heavy heart”. Really? She presumably didn’t have a heavy heart when she ejected her four tenants.
She’d previously spoken out against “private renters being exploited” and said her government would “empower people to challenge unreasonable rent increases”.
The now former minister was charging her four former tenants £3,300 a month. Yet after they moved out, she charged her new tenants £4,000 – a rent increase of more than 20%.
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The report about the Labour MP first emerged in the i newspaper. Pic: UK Parliament
A fragile constituency for Labour?
In an area represented by the left-wing firebrand George Galloway from 2005 to 2010, Ms Ali had a majority of under 1,700 at the election last year.
Ominously for Labour, an independent candidate was second and the Greens third. No doubt Jeremy Corbyn’s new party will also stand next time.
In her resignation letter to the PM, Ms Ali said continuing in her ministerial role would be a distraction. Too right.
A distraction Sir Keir and his increasingly unpopular government could have done without.
Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Adriana Kugler announced her resignation on Aug. 1, paving the way for a Trump nominee at the US central bank.
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