from the web site Newsshopper
LEWISHAM: Mayor admits council cuts will be 'shocking'
10:00am Sunday 4th July 2010
CUTS to public spending in Lewisham over the next few years will be "shocking", according to the Mayor of Lewisham.
During an interview with the News Shopper, Sir Steve Bullock said the required £60m cuts to council expenditure over the next three years are the "worst in living memory", and that no council job is safe.
All London councils have been told they must cut spending by 25 per cent to help reduce the national deficit.
But Sir Steve says Lewisham residents will be particularly hard hit in terms of job cuts as many work for other London local authorities which are being forced to make similar cutbacks.
In fact Lewisham has the highest rate of public sector employment in London, with 40,000 residents working in this sector.
He said: "It's a bit of an over-simplified theory, but generally public sector workers are paid less than private sector workers, and generally speaking housing is cheaper in Lewisham compared to central London.
"So in addition to Lewisham Council redundancies we fear for Lewisham residents employed by other local authorities."
He added: "We have to take £1 out of every £4 which is spent in Lewisham - so it goes without saying there's going to be a pretty shocking list of savings.
"I can't put a figure on it but I would guess there will be hundreds of job losses at the council. These are the worst cuts in living memory - worse than under Margaret Thatcher."
When asked if any Lewisham Council job was safe, he replied: "I wouldn't like to say that any particular area is ring-fenced.
"But the priority is to cut back on back-room jobs rather than front line posts."
Last week council officers published a report which detailed recommendations for cuts across the board.
They will be considered by the mayor and cabinet on July 14 where a list of priority savings will be drawn up.
Council officers will then produce a detailed list of proposed savings and job cuts with a final decision expected to be made by the mayor and cabinet in November.
A handful of recommendations put forward by council officers:
- Close one of four early childhood centres out of Rushey Green, Honor Oak, Amersham and Ladywell. This, along with decreased budgets for the remaining three, could save up to £2,180,000 over three years.
- Cut the number of children social care work assistants (£140,000 over three years)
- Cut agency workers in the children's social care department (£655,000 over three years)
- Close up to five libraries and cut library staff (£830,000 over three years)
- Increase the charge for meals on wheels (£50,000 over three years)
- Stop the street litter recycling service (£168,000 over three years)
- Replace parking machines with a pay-over-the-phone system (£200,000 over three years)
- Reduce the size of the council's corporate estate - such as council offices (£1,000,000 over three years)
- Cut staff numbers in the information, communications technology department (£300,000 over three years)
For the moment, teachers' jobs appear to be safe as they are paid from a separate government budget which is to be reviewed over the coming months.
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Your Say YourLondon
apak24, Woolwich London says...
10:21pm Sun 4 Jul 10
Irwin, Gravesend says...
9:55am Mon 5 Jul 10
RMcP, Br1 5HB says...
2:12pm Mon 5 Jul 10
And what about the already stretched services such as social care, where if jobs are cut, services will be stretched even further increasing risk to the most vunerable? It's hard to believe that after recent high-profile investigations in to such cases as baby p they would even consider reducing jobs in this area!
And if they reduce agency workers, who will do the work? As I understand they have used these workers to plug the gaps during a headcount freeze.
What a mess!
apak24, Woolwich London says...
11:17pm Mon 5 Jul 10
Irwin wrote:You all make me laugh, remember in the next 12 months when you are all feeling the so called pinch who voted for the torys. I bet non of you will say a word then lol
It is going to be tough for all of us. But there is little choice after the years of incompetent government by labour. That is why we are in this mess. We all know it and it won't go away. There were a lot of 'non jobs' created to hide unemployment figures, we all know that as well.
RMcP, Br1 5HB says...
11:14am Tue 6 Jul 10
apak24 wrote:Well I didn't vote Tory, but I it also begs the question if Labour were still in charge what would they have cut?Irwin wrote: It is going to be tough for all of us. But there is little choice after the years of incompetent government by labour. That is why we are in this mess. We all know it and it won't go away. There were a lot of 'non jobs' created to hide unemployment figures, we all know that as well.You all make me laugh, remember in the next 12 months when you are all feeling the so called pinch who voted for the torys. I bet non of you will say a word then lol
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